ANECDOTES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 


BYTOHN  w.  FORNEY 


• 

fi^' 


LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Received  . 
A  c cessions  No .  -2~  */  /  &  ^         S/ielf  No. 


ANECDOTES 


OF 


PUBLIC    MEN 


BY 

JOHN    W.   FORNEY 

It 

WHILE    HE  WAS 

CLERK  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

SECRETARY    OF   THE   SENATE    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

EDITOR   OF  THE   ORGAN   OF   THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY    (THE  WASHINGTON    DAILY   UNION) 

FROM    1851    TO    1855 
AND    EDITOR    OF   THE   ORGAN    OF   THE   REPUBLICAN    PARTY 

(THE  WASHINGTON  DAILY  CHRONICLE) 
FROM  1862  TO  1868 


Volume  I. 


UNIVERSITY 


NEW     YORK 
HARPER   &   BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN   SQUARE 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  by 

Z-f/Z  / 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


TO 


DANIEL    DOUGHERTY: 

UNFORGOTTEN  AND  UNFORGETTING. 

I  HAVE  known  you,  my  dear  Dougherty,  for  nearly  thirty 
years ;  when  your  hair,  now  turning  gray,  was  glossy  black ; 
when  both  of  us  were  struggling  young  men.  You  have  met 
most  of  the  characters  I  have  attempted  to  describe  in  these 
plain  and  unpretending  "  Anecdotes,"  and  I  feel  that  I  take  no 
liberty  in  dedicating  this  volume  to  you.  From  Franklin  Pierce 
to  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  including  most  of  the  intermediate  actors, 
whether  statesmen  or  lawyers,  soldiers  or  politicians,  men  of 
work  or  men  of  leisure,  the  artist  or  the  artisan,  the  priest  or 
the  player,  you  can  at  least  do  justice  to  the  motive  that  has  led 
me  to  speak  of  all  of  them  impartially  and  generously.  Instead 
of  One  Hundred  Anecdotes  of  Public  Men,  as  originally  in 
tended,  you  will  find  interwoven  into  these  pages  four  times  as 
many  references  to  the  characters  who  figured  in  the  past  and 
will  be  remembered  in  the  future.  One  lesson  I  have  tried  to 
inculcate :  that  while  none  of  us  are  indispensable,  the  good  we 
do  in  our  life  is  sure  to  be  kindly,  even  if  briefly,  remembered 
after  that  life  ends.  And  still  another  lesson,  so  well  taught 
in  your  own  career — the  lesson  of  self-reliance,  of  sincere 
friendship,  of  personal  independence  and  integrity,  of  toleration 
and  forbearance.  It  is  a  maxim,  that  when  men  begin  to  write 


VJii  DEDICATION. 

their  recollections  they  are  getting  old  j  but  you  have  taught 
me  in  our  long  and  unbroken  devotion  to  each  other  that  noth 
ing  keeps  the  heart  so  young  and  so  fresh  as  the  habit  of  re 
viving  the  best  deeds  of  our  fellow-creatures  and  forgetting  the 
worst.  As  I  glance  through  these  chapters,  written  hastily, 
often  in  the  rush  of  editorial  work,  I  am  surprised  to  realize 
how  much  one  man  can  condense  into  a  letter  repeated  every 
week  for  over  two  years ;  and  if  those  who  read  this  book  will 
enjoy  as  much  pleasure  in  perusing  it  as  I  did  in  writing  it, 
and  will  sympathize  with  me  in  the  spirit  with  which  it  was 
composed,  I  shall  be  abundantly  compensated. 

J.  W.  FORNEY. 
PHILADELPHIA,  June  2,  1873. 


ANECDOTES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN, 


i. 

IN  1850,  after  the  triumph  of  the  Compromise  Measures, 
Henry  Clay  visited  Philadelphia,  and  stayed  at  the  American 
House,  on  Chestnut  Street,  opposite  Independence  Hall.  As  I 
had  supported  these  Measures  in  opposition  to  the  extreme 
followers  of  the  Southern  Democrats,  in  the  columns  of  The 
Pennsylvania?!,  I  felt  anxious  to  call  on  Mr.  Clay,  the  leader  of 
that  his  last  great  work.  Ex-Mayor  John  Swift,  who  is  still  liv 
ing  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  84th  year  of  his  age,  dropped  in  at 
my  editorial  rooms  the  morning  after  Mr.  Clay's  arrival,  in  com 
pany  with  my  esteemed  friend,  Edwin  Forrest,  the  tragedian. 
Mr.  Swift,  who  had  been  one  of  Mr.  Clay's  active  and  unselfish 
champions,  gladly  acceded  to  my  request  to  be  presented  to 
Mr.  Clay,  whom  I  had  never  met,  and  had  firmly  opposed  when 
he  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  1844.  For 
rest  expressed  the  wish  to  accompany  us;  so  we  three  walked 
over  to  the  hotel  and  sent  up  our  cards,  and  were  quickly  ad 
mitted  to  the  great  man's  parlor.  He  looked  feeble  and  worn 
—  he  was  then  over  seventy-three  years  old  —  but  he  soon 
brightened.  Anxious  to  rouse  him,  I  quietly  ventured  to  sug 
gest  that  I  had  heard  the  speech  of  Pierre  Soule,  Senator  in 
Congress  from  Louisiana — an  extremist  especially  distasteful 
to  Mr.  Clay — and  that  I  thought  it  a  very  thorough  and  able 
presentation  of  the  side  adverse  to  the  Compromise  Measures. 
I  saw  the  old  man's  eye  flash  as  I  spoke,  and  was  not  surprised 

A  2 


10  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

when,  with  much  vehemence,  he  proceeded  to  denounce  Soule. 
After  denying  that  he  was  a  statesman,  and  insisting  that  there 
were  others  far  more  effective  in  the  opposition,  he  wound  up 
by  saying :  "  He  is  nothing  but  an  actor,  sir — a  mere  actor." 
Then  suddenly  recollecting  the  presence  of  our  favorite  trage 
dian,  he  dropped  his  tone,  and  waved  his  hand,  as  he  turned  to 
Mr.  Forrest — "/  mean,  my  dear  sir,  a  msre  French  actor  T  We 
soon  after  took  our  leave,  and  as  we  descended  the  stairs,  For 
rest  turned  to  Mr.  Swift  and  myself,  and  said :  "  Mr.  Clay  has 
proved,  by  the  skill  with  which  he  can  change  his  manner,  and 
the  grace  with  which  he  can  make  an  apology,  that  he  is  a 
better  actor  than  Soule' !" 

I  never  met  Daniel  Webster,  as  was  natural  on  account  of 
my  connection  with  the  Democratic  party,  but  I  often  recall 
two  incidents  in  connection  with  him.  It  was,  I  think,  about 
the  time  Robert  J.  Walker's  tariff  of  1846  was  passed  that  he 
came  to  Philadelphia,  and  stopped  at  Hartwell's  Washington 
House,  on  Chestnut  Street,  above  Seventh,  the  guest  of  the 
Whigs,  whom  he  addressed  at  a  splendid  banquet  in  the  cele 
brated  Chinese  Museum,  on  Ninth  Street.  Extensive  prepara 
tions  had  been  made  for  the  occasion.  The  company  was  nu 
merous,  including  hundreds  of  ladies  in  the  galleries,  the  feast 
superb,  the  wines  delicious,  and  Mr.  Webster  did  not  rise  to  re 
spond  to  the  toast  in  his  honor  till  late  in  the  evening.  Short 
hand  reporting  was  not  then  what  it  is  now,  a  swift,  accurate, 
and  magical  science ;  and  I  knew  the  Whig  papers,  which  re 
solved  to  print  the  great  man's  speech  entire,  would  be  delayed 
till  long  past  their  usual  hour  next  morning.  The  town  was 
hungry  to  see  it,  and  its  surprise  may  be  readily  conceived  when 
at  dawn  of  the  succeeding  day  The  Pennsylvanian,  the  Demo 
cratic  organ,  then  under  my  direction,  appeared  with  Mr.  "Web 
ster's  Great  Speech  on  the  Tariff."  I  had  taken  his  old  speech 
on  free  trade,  delivered  in  1824,  when  he  was  a  member  of  the 
House,  and  converted  it  into  a  Supplement,  of  which  many 


DANIEL    WEBSTER.  II 

thousands  were  printed  and  sold  before  the  joke  was  discovered. 
The  Democrats  were  delighted — the  Whigs  furious,  especially 
Mr.  Greeley,  of  The  Tribune,  who  had  come  over  to  hear  Mr. 
Webster,  and  who  bought  several  copies  of  the  old  speech, 
thinking  it  the  new  one.  But  Mr.  Webster  enjoyed  it  hugely; 
and  when  his  friend,  George  Ashmun,  handed  him  my  Extra, 
he  laughed  heartily,  and  said,  "  I  think  Forney  has  printed  a 
much  better  speech  than  the  one  I  made  last  night."  Was 
not  that  genuine  manliness?  The  other  incident  happened 
after  his  defeat  for  the  Whig  nomination  for  President  in  1852. 
I  was  then  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  and  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Washington  Union,  pub 
lished  by  that  fine  specimen  of  manhood,  General  Robert  Arm 
strong,  of  Tennessee.  Every  body  knew  that  Mr.  Webster  keenly 
felt  his  rejection  by  the  party  he  had  so  honored  and  served. 
The  brilliant  effort  of  Rufus  Choate  to  make  him  the  candidate 
in  the  Baltimore  Whig  National  Convention,  though  ineffectual 
to  prevent  the  foreordained  selection  of  the  brave  but  vain-glo 
rious  Scott,  had  gone  to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  adding  not 
only  to  the  grief  of  Mr.  Webster's  friends,  but,  as  the  result 
proved,  to  the  forces  of  the  Democrats,  who  were  largely  as 
sisted  by  their  old  opponents  in  the  ensuing  election  which 
made  Franklin  Pierce  President.  Indifferent  to  or  ignorant  of 
this  fact,  a  large  concourse  of  the  Whigs  of  Washington  City 
concluded  to  serenade  Mr.  Webster  at  his  residence  on  Louisi 
ana  Avenue.  I  followed  the  procession.  It  was  an  exquisite 
moonlight  summer  evening.  The  crowd  was  dense  ;  the  music 
delicious ;  the  cheers  inspiring.  A  long  time  elapsed  before 
the  statesman  appeared,  and  when  he  did  he  looked  like  an 
other  Coriolanus.  Robed  in  his  dressing-gown,  he  spoke  a  few 
minutes,  but  in  a  manner  I  shall  never  forget.  His  voice,  al 
ways  clear  and  sonorous,  rolled  with  deeper  volume  over  the 
crowd.  There  was  no  bitterness,  but  an  inexpressible  sadness 
in  his  words,  and  when  he  bade  them  good-night,  and  said  he 


12  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

should  sleep  well  and  rise  with  the  lark  at  the  purpling  of  the 
dawn — dropping  no  syllable  in  favor  of  General  Scott — the  ser- 
enaders  retired  as  if  they  had  heard  a  funeral  sermon.  I  walked 
to  my  editorial  den  and  wrote  a  leader  on  the  scene,  so  full  of 
the  emptiness  of  human  ambition  and  the  ingratitude  of  polit 
ical  parties.  The  following  verse  from  Byron  closed  the  ar 
ticle  : 

"  As  the  struck  eagle,  stretched  upon  the  plain, 
No  more  through  rolling  clouds  to  soar  again, 
Viewed  his  own  feather  on  the  fatal  dart, 
And  winged  the  shaft  that  quivered  in  his  heart, 
Keen  were  his  pangs,  but  keener  far  to  feel 
He  nursed  the  pinion  which  impelFd  the  steel ; 
While  the  same  plumage  that  had  warmed  his  nest, 
Drank  the  last  life-blood  of  his  bleeding  breast." 

Franklin  Pierce  succeeded  to  the  Presidency  in  1853,  aided 
by  many  Old-line  Whigs  and  by  most  of  the  Anti-slavery  Dem 
ocrats  now  in  the  Republican  ranks.  The  political  events  of 
his  administration  are  historical.  Let  me  say  a  word  about  the 
man.  He  was  at  once  the  kindest,  most  courteous,  and  most 
considerate  public  officer  I  ever  knew.  As  President  he  was  a 
model  of  high  breeding.  Receptive,  cordial,  hospitable  to  his 
political  friends,  he  delighted  to  welcome  his  political  adversa 
ries,  and  to  make  them  at  home.  Let  me  give  one  specimen 
of  his  liberality.  It  was  my  misfortune  to  differ  from  the  South 
ern  leaders  at  an  early  day,  and  they  resolved  to  defeat  my  re 
election  as  Clerk  of  the  House.  My  mistaken  "  Forrest  Letter" 
was  made  their  pretext.  I  say  mistaken,  for,  though  I  wrote  it 
with  the  most  honest  purpose,  I  did  not  venture  to  defend  the 
unjust  but  plausible  construction  that  I  had  written  it  to  obtain 
false  testimony  against  a  woman.  My  friends,  and  none  more 
than  Mr.  Forrest  himself,  knew  the  motive  that  prompted  me  ; 
but  I  have  never  stopped  to  explain  it.  That  letter  was  seized 
upon  by  the  Southern  leaders,  who  knew  my  settled  determina 
tion  to  resist  the  further  encroachments  of  slavery ;  and  they 


FRANKLIN    PIERCE.  13 

used  it  with  so  much  effect  that  my  defeat  was  believed  to  be 
sure. 

On  the  night  of  the  caucus,  President  Pierce  sent  for  me  and 
told  me  that  he  believed  I  could  not  be  renominated,  but  that 
he  was  resolved,  if  I  was  not,  to  send  my  name  into  the  Senate 
for  an  important  mission  to  one  of  the  South  American  States. 
I  got  through  the  struggle  triumphantly,  but  I  can  never  forget 
the  act  of  the  man  who,  in  the  darkest  hour,  extended  his  help 
ing  hand.  Nor  did  his  magnanimity  stop  here.  Many  of  his 
adherents  believed  I  ought  to  have  supported  him  for  President 
in  1856,  when  his  name  was  used  as  a  candidate  for  re-election; 
but  he  said  :  "  I  do  not  complain  of  you,  my  friend,  for  going 
with  your  State  for  Mr.  Buchanan,  whom  you  have  known  so 
long,  though  I  fear  you  will  be  disappointed  if  he  is  President." 
I  could  not  approve  the  removal  of  Governor  Reeder,  of  Kansas, 
for  his  refusal  to  help  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State,  in  1854, '5, 
any  more  than  I  could  the  removal  by  Mr.  Buchanan  of  Gover 
nor  Walker,  in  1858,  for  his  refusal  to  sanction  the  Lecompton 
frauds  ;  but  how  different  the  toleration  of  Pierce  from  the  per 
secution  of  his  successor.  While  the  whole  Democratic  press 
was  denouncing  Reeder  and  applauding  his  removal,  President 
Pierce  did  not  ask  me  to  join  in  the  crusade  against  my  friend, 
and  the  Washington  Union,  of  which  I  was  then  the  editor,  con 
tained  no  line  from  my  pen  against  him.  Five  years  later  I 
was  proscribed  and  hunted  down,  simply  because  I  would  not 
sanction  a  proceeding  far  more  despotic  and  unjust.  While  I 
was  in  the  midst  of  this  struggle  with  the  Administration  of  Mr. 
Buchanan,  I  visited  New  England  to  see  ex-President  Pierce. 
He  was,  as  usual,  in  earnest  sympathy  with  the  extreme  South; 
but  he  received  me  and  treated  me  like  a  brother,  and  the  day 
I  spent  with  him  lives  in  my  memory  like  a  picture  painted  by 
angel  hands. 

As  I  find  leisure  I  will  try  to  give  you  a  few  more  anecdotes 
of  the  public  men  I  have  met  or  known,  or  heard  others  speak 


14  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

of.  These  recollections  will  be  free  from  personal  or  partisan 
prejudice.  I  propose  to  show  that  many  of  those  who  have 
served  the  State,  however  abused  and  misrepresented,  were  not 
without  the  elements  of  a  true  humanity. 

[January  15,  1871.] 


II. 

THERE  is  no  habit  of  modern  education  so  happy  as  that  of 
keeping  a  regular  diary  of  events.  It  provides  the  choicest 
of  all  historical  material.  Pleasant  to  cultivate,  it  constitutes 
the  most  profitable  and  pleasant  of  all  our  reading.  From 
Pepys,  in  1669,  to  Crabb  Robinson,  in  1869,  with  the  interme 
diate  works  of  Barrington,  BoswelPs  Johnson,  and  Walpole's 
Letters — nothing  survives  so  entirely  the  wreck  and  waste  of 
time  as  these  daily  and  delightful  records  of  human  experience. 
It  is  said  that  the  journal  of  John  Quincy  Adams  is  the  best 
monument  of  his  stupendous  industry.  He  kept  it  during  all 
the  working  years  of  his  working  life.  Reared  to  scholarship, 
diplomacy,  and  statecraft,  he  began  it  with  his  youth,  and  to  the 
final  hour,  when  he  exclaimed,  "This  is  the  last  of  earth,"  ob 
served  the  custom.  The  rare  summary  of  the  second  President 
of  a  really  great  family,  covering  nearly  two  generations,  has 
not  yet  seen  the  light,  and  will  not,  I  understand,  till  most  of 
the  actors  of  whom  it  treats,  doubtless  with  caustic  freedom, 
have  been  gathered  to  their  fathers.  Other  Presidents  and 
statesmen  were  not  so  industrious,  with  perhaps  the  possible 
exception  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  whose  biography  has  not  appeared, 
owing  to  unexpected  events.  When  it  is  published,  we  have 
his  own  pledge  that  it  will  be  unstained  by  the  use  of  any  pri 
vate  correspondence,  as  we  have  the  assurance  from  the  high 
abilities  of  Hon.W.  B.  Reed,  the  gentleman  selected  to  prepare 


AT   WASHINGTON.  15 

it,  that  it  will  be  a  production  of  consummate  interest.  The 
diary  of  Mr.  Buchanan  will  be  a  treasure  to  his  historian. 

One  realizes  the  broad  distinction  between  memory  and  mem 
oranda,  in  the  attempt  to  make  the  one  a  substitute  for  the 
other.  The  written  record  of  a  Life,  which  is  a  photograph  of 
every  day's  doings,  is  incomparably  superior  to  the  faded  and 
fading  images  of  the  mind.  Hence  the  failure  of  those  who 
give  dates  and  names  from  their  unaided  recollections.  If  I  do 
not  fall  into  this  error  in  these  familiar  sketches,  it  will  be  be 
cause  I  shall  adventure  nothing  calculated  to  give  offense,  noth 
ing  not  susceptible  of  easy  vindication  and  general  credence. 

But  I  must  emphasize  the  suggestion  that  our  young  men 
and  young  women  can  employ  one  or  two  hours  every  day  no 
more  agreeably  and  usefully  than  by  keeping  a  journal.  Begun 
after  school-time  while  they  are  boys  and  girls,  and  continued 
as  they  advance  in  life,  it  will  be  at  once  monitor  and  guide  to 
themselves,  and  may  be  of  incalculable  value  in  the  crystalliza 
tion  of  history. 

I  remember  a  dinner-party  at  the  time  I  lived  in  Washington 
during  the  administration  of  General  Pierce,  which  requires  no 
diary  to  keep  fresh  in  my  heart.  It  took  place  at  my  residence, 
and  in  the  house  now  known  as  the  Waverley,  on  Eighth  Street, 
back  of  The  Chronicle  office,  where  I  resided  up  to  1856,  when  I 
left  Washington  to  help  make  Mr.  Buchanan  President,  and 
never  returned,  save  to  join  in  the  work  of  overthrowing  him 
after  he  broke  the  promise  of  justice  to  Kansas,  which  alone 
elected  him.  There  were  present  some  twenty  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Democratic  party,  North  and  South,  among  them  Mr. 
Slidell,  Mr.  Breckinridge,  and  I  think  Mr.  Douglas.  One  of  my 
guests  was  Dr.  William  Elder,  my  friend  at  that  day,  though  we 
differed  widely  about  slavery,  just  as  he  is  to-day,  when  we 
closely  agree  in  opposing  it.  I  had  met  him  on  a  former  visit 
to  Philadelphia,  and  invited  him  to  come  to  Washington  and 
sojourn  under  my  roof.  He  came  on  the  evening  before  the 


1 6  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

party  in  question,  somewhat  to  the  consternation  of  those  of 
my  family  who  knew  his  pronounced  abolitionism,  and  the 
equally  pronounced  pro-slavery  views  of  those  who  were  to 
dine  with  me  next  day.  But  there  was  no  help  for  it;  indeed, 
I  was  glad  to  meet  the  gifted  and  polished  Doctor.  My  own 
mind  was  far  from  clear  as  to  the  justice  of  the  course  of  my 
party  in  regard  to  Kansas,  and  I  made  no  concealment  of  my 
doubts.  The  angry  protests  of  the  North  against  that  contem 
plated  villainy  were  being  heard  in  the  elections.  The  De 
mocracy  had  just  been  unhorsed,  right  and  left,  North  and  South, 
by  the  Know-Nothing  storm,  and  the  old  leaders  knew  that 
meant  something  more  than  hostility  to  foreigners  and  Catho 
lics,  and  was  in  fact  the  first  mutterings  of  a  far  greater  tem 
pest.  The  Southern  leaders  of  the  day  were  not  yet  ready  to 
hazard  a  rebellion.  They  were  eager  to  conciliate  Northern 
anti-slavery  men  ;  and  those  I  knew  were  always  gentlemen  in 
social  life.  This  was  especially  so  with  Slidell,  Benjamin, 
Breckinridge,  Cobb,  etc.  And  so,  when  the  restraint  of  the 
first  course  or  two  was  thawed  by  a  generous  draught  of  cham 
pagne,  those  who  sat  at  my  board  were  quickly  attracted  by  the 
agreeable  manners  and  dazzling  wit  of  my  abolition  friend.  He 
gradually  monopolized  their  whole  attention  by  his  comments 
on  books  and  men,  and  his  full  knowledge  of  the  resources  of 
their  own  section. 

At  last  one  of  them  said,  "  Pray,  Doctor  Elder,  how  is  it  that 
one  of  your  tastes  and  learning  should  be  so  opposed  to  South 
ern  rights  and  institutions  ?"  That  opened  the  ball,  and,  noth 
ing  loth,  he  answered  with  a  story  I  can  never  forget ;  a  story 
which  I  believe  has  never  been  forgotten  by  any  one  who  heard 
it:  "When  I  lived  in  Pittsburgh,  gentlemen,"  said  the  Doctor, 
"where  I  had  the  honor  to  vote  for  James  G.  Birney  for  Presi 
dent  in  1844,  being  one  of  a  very,  very  small  party,  which  will 
soon  control  Pennsylvania  by  an  Andrew  Jackson  majority,  we 
had  a  strange  character  among  us  who  occasionally  made 


DR.  WILLIAM    ELDER.  17 

speeches  against  slavery,  and  whose  peculiarities  were  that 
when  he  became  excited  he  gave  way  to  uncontrollable  tears 
and  oaths.  I  always  went  to  hear  him,  for  there  was  an  odd 
fascination  about  him.  One  night  he  was  advertised  to  speak 
against  the  fugitive-slave  law — a  measure  which  roused  him  al 
most  to  madness — and  I  was  among  the  audience.  He  closed 
his  harangue  with  a  passage  something  like  this  :  '  Let  us  apply 
this  law  to  ourselves,  brethren  and  sisters.  I  live  about  a  mile 
out  of  town,  and  rarely  get  back  to  my  quiet  home  till  evening ; 
and  the  first  to  welcome  me  at  the  garden-gate  are  my  little  girl 
Mary  and  my  bright-eyed  son  Willie— the  joy  of  my  heart,  the 
stars  of  my  life.  Suppose,  when  I  get  home  to-morrow,  I  meet 
my  wife,  instead  of  my  children,  at  the  door,  and  on  asking  for 
my  darlings,  she  tells  me  that  a  man  called  John  C.  Calhoun, 
of  South  Carolina,  and  another  man  called  Henry  Clay,  of 
Kentucky,  had  come,  in  my  absence,  and  carried  them  down 
South  into  slavery?  How  would  you  feel  in  such  a  case?  How 
do  you  think  I  would  feel  ?  What  would  I  do  ?  you  ask.  Well, 
I  will  tell  you.  I  would  follow  the  aforesaid  John  C.  Calhoun 
and  Henry  Clay;  follow  them  to  the  South;  follow  them  to  the 
gates  of  death  and  hell ;  yes,  into  hell,  and  there  cram  the  red- 
hot  coals  down  their  d — d,  infernal  throats  !' 

"  And  this  outburst,"  added  Dr.  Elder,  "was  punctuated  with 
alternate  sobs  and  swearing.  I  have  given  you  one  of  the  many 
causes,  gentlemen,  that  have  confirmed  me  in  my  abolitionism." 
It  is  impossible  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  manner  in  which 
Dr.  Elder  told  this  incident,  or  the  effect  produced  upon  the 
Southern  men  around  him.  They  listened  with  profound  and 
breathless  interest,  and  more  than  one  with  a  pale  cheek  and 
moistened  eye ;  and  though  they  did  not  say  they  agreed  with 
the  eloquent  Doctor,  I  saw  that  they  respected  him  for  the  can 
dor  and  warmth  with  which  he  had  replied  to  their  equally  can 
did  question. 
[January  22,  1871.] 


ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 


III. 


IN  Theodore  Parker's  frank  and  sympathetic  analysis  of  the 
character  of  George  Washington,  he  speaks  of  his  skill  and 
good  fortune  in  the  selection  and  purchase  of  real  estate,  and 
his  fine  forecast  of  the  destiny  of  Virginia  and  the  West.     In 
this  respect  Stephen  A.  Douglas  resembled  the  Father  of  his 
Country.     He  had  an  inspiration  for  land,  and  he  delighted  to 
tell  his  friends  what  his  country  must  be  in  the  course  of  years, 
if  our  wilderness  were  opened  up  by  wise  and  generous  legisla 
tion.     He  had  none  of  the  small  arts  that  would  dwarf  great 
enterprises  by  counting  the  profits  of  those  who  led  in  them. 
He  justly  believed  that  where  there  are  large  risks  there  should 
be  large  recompense.     I  remember  —  who  of  middle  age  does 
not  ?  —  when  the  proposition  made  to  tax  the  people  of  Phila 
delphia  and  the  State  for  the  construction  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Central   roused   a  hurricane   of  opposition.     We   were   over 
whelmed  by  sinister  prophecies  ;  and  yet  the  seed  sown  by  the 
success  of  that  proposition  has  already  produced  a  work  which 
in  another  generation  will  carry  the  trade  of  the  Orient  through 
Philadelphia,  and  open  to  it  a  commerce  with  Europe  infinitely 
greater  than  any  ever  dreamed  of  in  our  wildest  aspirations. 
The  Pennsylvania  Central,  like  the  Mississippi  River,  is  fed  by 
many  branches,  which  it  feeds  in  turn,  and  with  its  manifold 
tributaries  capable  of  extending  itself  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
South,  giving  wealth  to  them  in  bounteous  supply,  and  receiv 
ing  in  exchange  other  riches  and  bounties.     Had  the  bold, 
brave  men  who  first  pushed  it  failed,  their  reputations  would 
have  rotted  in  the  category  of  the  projectors  who  began  other 
magnificent  schemes  in  other  centuries,  and  broke  only  because 
they  were  ahead  of  their  time. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  died  too  soon,  for  many  reasons,  and 
chiefly  because,  had  he  lived,  he  would  have  enjoyed  the  ripe 


STEPHEN    A.  DOUGLAS.  1 9 

fulfillment  of  many  of  his  predictions  and  labors.  But  I  began 
this  sketch  rather  to  relate  an  incident  illustrative  of  his  kind 
ness  to  his  friends  than  of  his  extraordinary  prescience  in  the 
matter  of  the  development  of  the  public  domain. 

He  had,  as  I  have  said,  the  inspiration  of  the  soil.  To  him 
I  am  indebted  for  my  first  and  only  speculation — the  better  to 
be  recollected  because  it  was  successful.  And  the  incident  is 
the  more  interesting  because,  just  now,  the  region  where  I  made 
my  money  is  the  point  whence  one  of  those  empire  lines  is  go 
ing  forth  to  penetrate  the  wilderness  and  to  convert  it  into  a 
garden — I  mean  the  North  Pacific  Railroad.  I  suspect  that 
the  Civilizer  and  Christianizer  Jay  Cooke,  who  pioneers  this 
mighty  work,  was  nearly  as  poor  a  man  as  I  was  when  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  came  to  me  one  day  in  1853,  and  said,  looking  up 
at  the  map,  "  How  would  you  like  to  buy  a  share  in  Superior 
City,  at  Fond  du  Lac,  the  head  of  Lake  Superior  ?"  and,  before 
I  could  answer,  he  got  on  a  chair  and  told  me  that  from  that 
point,  or  near  it,  would  start  the  greatest  railroad  in  the  world, 
except  the  one  on  the  thirty-second  parallel,  just  surveyed  by 
Captains  George  B.  McClellan,  John  Pope,  and  others,  which 
was  to  open  up  the  South.  "  But,"  I  said,  "  old  fellow,  I  have 
no  money,  and  to  buy  a  share  in  the  proposed  location  will  re 
quire  much."  "No,"  he  replied,  "I  can  secure  you  one  for 

$2500,  and  you  can  divide  it  with ,"  naming  one  of  the 

best  of  the  future  Confederates,  "and  he  will  be  greatly 
obliged."  I  knew  nothing  of  the  location,  had  never  been 
there,  had  no  money  of  my  own,  but  I  saw  Judge  Douglas  was 
in  earnest  and  wanted  to  serve  me,  and  when  he  left,  I  bor 
rowed  the  $2500,  bought  a  share,  divided  it  with  the  Southern 
gentleman  referred  to,  who  honorably  paid  his  $1250;  and 
after  cutting  my  share  into  five  parts,  sold  and  gave  three  fifths 
to  other  friends,  and  with  my  two  fifths  bought  the  Waverley 
House,  in  Washington.  The  proceeds  of  my  moiety  of  the  one 
share  of  Superior  City  realized  $21,000.  For  that  I  was  in- 


20  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

debted  to  Stephen  A.  Douglas— God  bless  him !  I  believe  my 
Confederate  friend  has  held  on  to  his  interest,  and  I  shall  be 
glad  if  he  is  as  fortunate  as  I  was.  Duluth  is  now  the  fashion, 
and  I  wish  it  all  success,  because  it  can  not  grow  rich  without 
reflecting  some  of  its  wealth  upon  Superior  City,  its  near  neigh 
bor. 

In  1868,  the  Republicans  of  Pennsylvania,  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  put  me  at  the  head  of  their  delegation  to  the  Republican 
National  Convention,  to  vote  for  General  Grant  as  their  candi 
date  for  President.     The  first  thing  I  did,  after  getting  to  Chi 
cago,  was  to  go  out  to  look  on  the  monument  to  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  ;  the  next  to  visit  the. 
massive  buildings  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
the  enterprise  which  he  alone  carried  through  Congress.     The 
monument  was  not  complete,  but  the  palatial  edifices  of  the 
railroad  were.     I  could  not  help  it,  but  when  I  remembered 
how  in  Paris  and  London,  just  the  year  before,  I  had  seen  Illi 
nois  Central  securities  quoted  among  the  consols  of  the  oldest 
governments,  and  that  that  road  was  enriching  all  connected 
with  it— I  say  I  could  not  help,  as  I  thought  of  these  things, 
drawing  the  contrast  between  the  vital  and  vigorous  champion 
ship  of  Douglas  of  this  stupendous  work  and  the  studied  neg 
lect  of  his  memory  by  those  who  have  profited  by  it.     After 
passing  through  the  magnificent  depot  and  the  adjacent  build 
ings,  I  said  to  an  employe',  "  Who  owns  the  most  stock  in  the 
Illinois  Central  ?"     "  Indeed,  I  do  not  know,  sir,"  was  his  reply. 
"  Well,  my  friend,  I  think  the  man  who  ought  to  own  the  most 
of  it,  and  whose  children  should  be  most  benefited  by  it,  was 
Stephen  A.  Douglas."     I  think  the  man  may  have  heard  of 
Douglas,  but  it  was  clear  to  me,  from  his  look,  that  he  thought 
I  was  a  lunatic. 

[January  29, 1871.] 


AMATEUR    EDITORS.  21 


IV. 

MANY  of  our  public  men  are  capital  amateur  editors.  Thomas 
H.  Benton  was  a  valuable  and  vigorous  contributor  to  The  Globe 
in  the  war  upon  the  United  States  Bank.  His  style  was  trench 
ant  and  elevated,  and  his  facts  generally  impregnable.  James 
Buchanan  was  a  frequent  writer  in  my  old  paper,  The  Lancaster 
Intelligencer  &>  Journal,  and  in  The  Pennsylvanian.  His  diction 
was  cold  and  unsympathetic,  but  exact,  clear,  and  condensed. 
His  precise  and  elegant  chirography  was  the  delight  of  the 
compositors.  Judge  Douglas  wrote  little,  but  suggested  much. 
His  mind  teemed  with  "points."  I  never  spent  an  hour  with 
him  which  did  not  furnish  me  with  new  ideas.  He  grasped 
and  understood  most  questions  thoroughly.  When  he  read 
was  always  a  mystery.  Social  to  a  degree,  dining  out  almost 
daily  when  not  entertaining  his  friends  at  his  own  hospitable 
home,  visiting  strangers  at  their  hotels,  leading  in  debate  or 
counseling  in  committee,  he  was  rarely  at  fault  for  a  date  or  a 
fact.  He  was  a  treasure  to  an  editor,  because  he  possessed  the 
rare  faculty  of  throwing  new  light  upon  every  subject  in  the 
shortest  possible  time.  Ex- Attorney-General  J.  S.  Black  would 
have  made  a  superb  journalist,  and  was  a  ready  and  useful  con 
tributor.  His  style  was  terse,  fresh,  and  scholarly.  Caleb 
Gushing  is  another  statesman  who  once  delighted  in  editorial 
writing,  and  still  occasionally  varies  his  heavy  professional  toil 
by  the  same  agreeable  relaxation.  I  have  known  him  to  stand 
up  to  his  tall  desk  and  dash  off  column  after  column  on  for 
eign  and  domestic  politics,  on  art,  on  finance,  with  astonishing 
rapidity  and  ease.  Unlike  his  aggressive  successor,  General 
Gushing  is  anxious  to  end  his  career  at  peace  with  all  the 
world.  It  is  said  that  he  is  now  receiving  more  money  for 
legal  services  than  any  man  in  his  profession.  Of  course  his 
labors  are  heavy,  but  he  lightens  them  by  his  calm  and  cheer- 


22  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

ful  philosophy,  his  cultivated  literary  tastes,  and  his  love  of  the 
society  of  the  tolerant  and  refined. 

Writing  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  recalls  an  incident  that  hap 
pened  during  the  Presidency  of  James  K.  Polk,  when  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  was  Secretary  of  State.  Colonel  Benton  was  a  sharp 
thorn  in  the  side  of  the  Administration  on  the  Oregon  question. 
His  criticism  was  merciless,  and  stung  the  President  and  his 
premier  to  the  quick.  Accordingly  The  Pennsylvanian  was 
called  upon  to  review  his  positions,  which  was  done  in  three 
articles  that  bore,  he  thought,  distinct  official  ear-marks.  Indig 
nant  at  my  temerity,  he  addressed  me  a  curt  note,  demanding 
the  name  of  the  author  of  the  articles  and  threatening  a  Senato 
rial  investigation.  I  responded  by  assuming  the  whole  respon 
sibility,  and  took  the  train  for  Washington  to  anticipate  and 
watch  events.  I  quartered,  as  usual,  with  Mr.  Buchanan,  and 
there  waited  for  the  summons.  None  came,  however.  Just 
before  returning  to  my  post  in  Philadelphia  I  was  invited  to  a 
reception  at  the  British  Minister's,  and  in  one  of  the  currents 
of  the  throng  was  carried  into  a  corner  where  they  were  serving 
out  the  seductive  compound  known  as  Roman  punch.  I  had 
hardly  got  a  glass  of  it  in  my  hand  when  I  found  myself  in  the 
presence  of  Colonel  Benton.  He  greeted  me  kindly,  and  as  we 
enjoyed  our  punch  he  quietly  remarked,  "  I  got  your  letter,  but 
I  did  not  proceed  because  I  know  you  assumed  the  responsi 
bility  that  belonged  to  another."  It  is  needless  to  add  that 
the  Secretary  of  State  was  as  much  relieved  as  I  was  by  the 
majestical  Missouri  Senator. 

Although  Buchanan  and  Benton  never  were  intimate  friends, 
the  latter  went  to  Cincinnati  in  1856  to  advocate  Buchanan  as 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  President,  and  supported  him 
when  nominated  against  his  own  son-in-law,  General  John  C. 
Fremont.  Nobody  was  more  surprised  than  Buchanan  himself. 
He  knew  that  Benton  disliked  him  as  sincerely  as  he  esteemed 
General  Fremont.  But  the  matter  was  easily  explained.  The 


DAVID    C.  BRODERICK.  23 

Missouri  statesman  believed  that  the  Pennsylvanian  candidate 
would,  if  elected,  be  true  to  the  great  work  of  justice  to  Kansas; 
that  he  would  check  the  design  of  forcing  slavery  into  that  Ter 
ritory  ;  and  that  he  would  tranquilize  the  country  by  arresting 
the  sectional  tendencies  of  the  times.  He  lived,  like  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  others,  to  realize  his  mistake ;  but  he  passed 
off  before  the  war  that  resulted  from  the  absence  of  a  little 
courage  to  maintain  the  most  solemn  pledge  ever  made  to  a 
confiding  people.  Thomas  Hart  Benton  died  the  loth  of 
April,  1858. 

[February  4,  .8?..]       ff' 

[UNIVERSITY 


DAVID  C.  BRODERICK,  of  California,  was  in  some  respects  a  re 
markable  character.  Born  in  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1818, 
and  killed  in  a  duel  in  September  of  1859,  his  short  career  was 
a  succession  of  strange  events.  Twenty-five  years  of  it  were 
spent  in  New  York  in  the  rudest  scenes,  and  more  than  ten 
among  the  turbulent  men  who  then,  as  now,  dominated  over 
that  great  city.  Of  these  he  became  the  early  and  imperious 
leader — a  leader  blindly  followed  and  blindly  obeyed.  But  he 
never  fell  into  their  habits  of  dissipation,  and  perhaps  his  un 
broken  command  over  them  resulted  from  his  silent  and  sober 
nature.  The  foreman  of  a  fire-company  and  the  keeper  of  a 
saloon,  he  never  lost  his  dignity,  but  would  retire  to  his  books 
whenever  he  had  a  moment  of  leisure.  Removing  to  Califor 
nia  in  1849,  he  quickly  secured  the  confidence  of  the  people, 
and  was  elected  by  them  to  high  and  honorable  positions.  He 
was  a  useful  member  of  the  convention  that  adopted  the  first 
California  constitution,  and  was  two  years  in  the  State  Senate, 
and  president  of  that  body.  In  1856  he  was  elected  a  Senator 


24  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

in  Congress  for  six  years  from  the  4th  of  March,  1857.  I  had 
seen  him  but  once  before,  in  1848,  when  Mr.  Edwin  Croswell, 
the  well-known  editor  of  the  Albany  Argus,  who  is  still  living 
in  New  York,  greatly  esteemed  for  his  amiability  and  learning, 
visited  my  office  in  his  company ;  but  when  I  met  him  a  sec 
ond  time  in  Philadelphia,  after  his  triumph  and  that  of  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  to  whose  Presidential  aspirations  he  had  given  such 
effective  aid,  I  felt  as  if  I  had  known  him  intimately  from  boy 
hood.  We  were  nearly  the  same  age,  and  had  supported  Mr. 
Buchanan  from  the  same  motive — that  of  settling  the  slavery 
question,  at  least  for  the  time,  by  even-handed  justice  to  the 
people  of  Kansas.  California  had  been  a  secession  rendez 
vous  from  the  day  it  became  a  part  of  the  Union,  but  the 
Southern  leaders  there  soon  found  in  Broderick  a  stubborn  and 
a  dangerous  enemy.  His  rough  New  York  schooling  had  made 
him  especially  abhorrent  of  obedience  to  such  tyrants,  and  so 
he  grappled  with  them  promptly.  In  a  little  more  than  six 
years  he  mounted  over  their  heads  into  the  most  important 
offices,  and  when  he  elected  himself  to  the  United  States  Sen 
ate  he  also  magnanimously  elected  his  adversary,  Dr.  W.  M. 
Gwin,  for  the  short  term.  But  he  was  not  long  in  Washington 
before  he  realized  that  the  new  President  was  his  foe,  and  that 
the  solemn  pledge  of  justice  to  Kansas  was  not  to  be  main 
tained.  The  national  patronage  on  the  Pacific  slope  was  con 
centrated  in  the  hands  of  his  colleague,  and  the  young  Senator 
began  his  career  by  finding  his  friends  stripped  of  the  power 
they  had  fairly  won. 

The  disappointment  was  grievous,  but  it  called  out  all  his  bet 
ter  nature.  He  devoted  himself  to  his  studies  and  his  duties 
with  renewed  assiduity.  He  always  lived  like  a  gentleman. 
Generous  to  a  fault,  he  delighted  to  have  his  friends  around 
him.  His  bearing,  his  dress,  his  language,  indicated  none  of 
the  hard  experience  of  his  youth.  He  was  fond  of  books,  and 
was  a  rare  judge  of  men.  I  have  his  picture  before  me  as  I 


SENATOR    BRODERICK.  2$ 

write,  and  as  I  look  into  his  dark  eyes  and  watch  his  firm-set 
mouth  I  almost  see  the  flash  of  the  one  and  hear  the  good 
sense  that  often  came  from  the  other. 

There  were  not  many  of  us  in  the  Democratic  ranks  to  stand 
up  for  fair  play  to  Kansas.  We  started  with  a  goodly  array, 
but  the  offices  of  the  Executive  were  too  much  for  most  of  our 
associates,  and  when  the  final  struggle  came  we  were  a  cor 
poral's  guard  indeed.  Broderick  was  the  soul  of  our  little  party. 
I  understood  how  he  managed  men  in  New  York  and  Califor 
nia  as  I  watched  his  intercourse  with  Senators  and  Representa 
tives  in  that  trying  crisis.  Some  he  would  persuade,  others  he 
would  denounce.  He  seemed  to  know  the  especial  weakness 
to  address ;  but  nothing  was  more  potent  than  his  appeal  to 
the  constituency  of  the  hesitating  member.  "  I  tell  you,"  he 
used  to  say  to  such  as  doubted,  "you  can  make  more  reputa 
tion  by  being  an  honest  man  instead  of  a  rascal." 

Broderick  was  one  of  the  few  "  self-made  "  men  who  did  not 
boast  of  having  been  a  mechanic.  He  was  not  like  a  famous 
ex-President  who  delighted  to  speak  of  his  rise  from  the  tailor's 
bench.  He  did  not  think  a  man  any  worse  for  having  worked 
for  his  living  at  a  trade,  nor  did  he  believe  him  any  better. 
And  this  theory  sprang  from  the  belief  that  the  laboring  men 
of  America  are  seldom  true  to  the  bright  minds  so  often  reared 
among  them.  His  memorable  words  in  reply  to  the  haughty 
Hammond  of  South  Carolina,  on  the  22d  of  March,  1858,  after 
the  latter  had  spoken  of  the  producing  class  of  the  North  as  the 
"  mudsills  "  of  society,  illustrate  this  theory.  Mr.  Broderick  said : 

"  I,  sir,  am  glad  that  the  Senator  has  spoken  thus.  It  may 
have  the  effect  of  arousing  in  the  working  men  that  spirit  that 
has  been  lying  dormant  for  centuries.  It  may  also  have  the 
effect  of  arousing  the  two  hundred  thousand  men  with  pure 
skins  in  South  Carolina,  who  are  now  degraded  and  despised 
by  thirty  thousand  aristocratic  slaveholders.  It  may  teach 
them  to  demand  what  is  the  power — 

B 


26  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

"  '  Link'd  with  success,  assumed  and  kept  with  skill, 
That  moulds  another's  weakness  to  its  will ; 
Wields  with  their  hands,  but  still  to  them  unknown, 
Makes  even  their  mightiest  deeds  appear  his  own.' 

"  I  suppose,  sir,  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  did  not  in 
tend  to  be  personal  in  his  remarks  to  any  of  his  peers  upon 
this  floor.  If  I  had  thought  so  I  would  have  noticed  them  at 
the  time.  I  am,  sir,  with  one  exception,  the  youngest  in  years 
of  the  Senators  upon  this  floor.  It  is  not  long  since  I  served 
an  apprenticeship  of  five  years  at  one  of  the  most  laborious  me 
chanical  trades  pursued  by  man — a  trade  that  from  its  nature 
devotes  its  follower  to  thought,  but  debars  him  from  conversa 
tion.  I  would  not  have  alluded  to  this  if  it  were  not  for  the  re 
marks  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina;  and  the  thousands 
who  know  that  I  am  the  son  of  an  artisan  and  have  been  a  me 
chanic,  would  feel  disappointed  in  me  if  I  did  not  reply  to  him. 
I  am  not  proud  of  this.  I  am  sorry  it  is  true.  I  would  that  I 
could  have  enjoyed  the  pleasures  of  life  in  my  boyhood  days ; 
but  they  were  denied  to  me.  I  say  this  with  pain.  I  have  not 
the  admiration  for  the  men  of  the  class  from  which  I  sprang 
that  might  be  expected  j  they  submit  too  tamely  to  oppression, 
and  are  prone  to  neglect  their  rights  and  duties  as  citizens. 
But,  sir,  the  class  of  society  to  whose  toil  I  was  born,  under  our 
form  of  government,  will  control  the  destinies  of  this  nation. 
If  I  were  inclined  to  forget  my  connection  with  them,  or  to  deny 
that  I  sprang  from  them,  this  chamber  would  not  be  the  place 
in  which  I  could  do  either.  While  I  hold  a  seat  I  have  but  to 
look  at  the  beautiful  capitals  adorning  the  pilasters  that  sup 
port  this  roof,  to  be  reminded  of  my  father's  talent  and  to  see 
his  handiwork. 

"I  left  the  scenes  of  my  youth  and  manhood  for  the  'Far 
West'  because  I  was  tired  of  the  struggles  and  jealousies  of 
men  of  my  class,  who  could  not  understand  why  one  of  their 
fellows  should  seek  to  elevate  his  condition  upon  the  common 


SENATOR   BRODERICK.  2J 

level.  I  made  my  new  abode  among  strangers,  where  labor  is 
honored.  I  had  left  without  regret ;  there  remained  no  tie  of 
blood  to  bind  me  to  any  being  in  existence.  If  I  fell  in  the 
struggle  for  reputation  and  fortune,  there  was  no  relative  on  earth 
to  mourn  my  fall.  The  people  of  California  elevated  me  to  the 
highest  office  within  their  gift.  My  election  was  not  the  result 
of  an  accident  For  years  I  had  to  struggle,  often  seeing  the 
goal  of  ambition  within  my  reach ;  it  was  again  and  again  taken 
from  me  by  the  aid  of  men  of  my  own  class.  I  had  not  only 
them  to  contend  with,  but  almost  the  entire  partisan  press  of 
my  state  was  subsidized  by  Government  money  and  patronage 
to  oppose  my  election.  I  sincerely  hope,  sir,  the  time  will  come 
when  such  speeches  as  that  from  the  Senator  from  South  Caro 
lina  will  be  considered  a  lesson  to  the  laborers  of  the  nation." 

Prophetic  words  indeed ! 

The  last  time  I  saw  Broderick  wa"s  one  night  in  April,  1859, 
at  the  corner  of  Sixth  and  Chestnut  Streets,  Philadelphia,  where 
he  took  the  omnibus  to  the  New  York  depot,  intending  to  sail 
in  a  few  days  for  San  Francisco.  The  shadow  of  his  fate  was 
upon  him.  He  was  much  depressed.  We  had  broken  the  Ad 
ministration  party  to  pieces  in  most  of  the  Northern  States,  ob 
literated  the  pro-slavery  majority  in  the  House,  and  had  given 
prospective  and  substantial  freedom  to  Kansas.  Our  little  pha 
lanx  had  made  a  breach  in  the  columns  of  the  Democracy  that 
was  to  widen  into  a  chasm  never  to  be  closed.  California  was 
to  vote  on  the  yth  of  September,  and  Broderick  was  going  back 
to  meet  his  people.  His  magnificent  campaign  against  the 
Southern  policy  of  forcing  slavery  into  Kansas  had  aroused  the 
bitterest  resentment,  and  the  worst  elements  were  organized 
against  him  in  his  own  State.  "  I  feel,  my  dear  friend,  that  we 
shall  never  meet  again.  I  go  home  to  die.  I  shall  abate  no 
jot  of  my  faith.  I  shall  be  challenged,  I  shall  fight,  and  I  shall 
be  killed."  These  were  his  words.  I  tried  to  rally  him  on 
these  forebodings ;  told  him  he  was  young  and  brave,  and  would 


28  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

live  to  be  even  more  honored  in  the  years  to  come.  "  No,"  he 
said,  with  a  sad  smile  I  shall  never  forget;  "no,  it  is  best;  I  am 
doomed.  You  will  live  to  write  of  me  and  to  keep  my  memory 
green  ;  and  now  good-by  forever."  On  the  yth  of  September, 
the  very  day  of  the  election,  I  predicted  the  duel  which  took 
place  on  the  i3th  of  the  same  month,  and  on  the  i6th  my  poor 
friend  died  from  a  wound  received  at  the  hands  of  the  pro- 
slavery  Democrat  leader,  David  S.  Terry,  who  was  living  at  the 
last  accounts  in  the  State  of  Nevada.  The  Democrats  carried 
the  election  on  the  yth,  and  the  heroic  Broderick  died  on  the 
1 6th.  But  the  blood  of  the  martyr  was  the  seed  of  the  redemp 
tion  of  California.  The  people  rose  at  the  sight  of  a  tragedy  so 
deliberate,  fore-planned,  and  anticipated.  Had  Broderick  fallen 
before  the  election  of  1859  California  would  have  repudiated 
the  Buchanan  Administration.  He  himself  postponed  the  duel 
till  the  ballots  were  cast,  and  then  he  passed  to  his  death.  But 
that  death  saved  California  to  the  Union.  The  traitors  who 
tried  to  hand  her  over  to  the  rebellion  were  baffled  by  the  up 
rising  that  followed  his  sacrifice.  The  Broderick  Democrats 
joined  the  Republicans  and  held  California  fast  to  her  allegi 
ance,  and  so  proved  at  once  their  love  of  their  great  country 
and  their  gratitude  to  their  unselfish  leader. 

[February  12, 1871.] 


VI. 

IT  is  one  of  the  penalties,  if  penalty  it  be,  of  those  who  ab 
stain  from  national  affairs,  that  they  are  rarely  heard  of  outside 
their  own  vicinage.  Many  a  mediocrity  becomes  a  celebrity 
when  his  name  figures  in  the  Congressional  yeas  and  nays,  just 
as  many  a  nobler  intellect  remains  rooted  to  the  spot  of  its 
birth,  full  of  knowledge  of  a  world  that  knows  it  not.  There  is 


CONRAD   AND    BARTON.  29 

hardly  a  county  in  the  United  States  of  which  this  statement  is 
not  true,  more  or  less.  There  is  not  a  reader  of  these  sketches 
who  can  not  point  out  eminent  men  of  his  own  acquaintance 
who  would  suffer  for  want  of  national  reputation  if  they  had  not 
studiously  disregarded  it,  and  honestly  preferred  the  comforts 
of  home  and  the  golden  opinions  of  their  own  neighbors. 

Two  men  lived  in  Pennsylvania  a  little  more  than  twenty 
years  ago  who  came  partly  within  this  category.  They  were, 
indeed,  known  far  beyond  their  vicinity ;  but  as  they  did  not 
seek  for  notoriety,  they  are  not  as  well  remembered  as  if  they 
had  been  aspirants  for  Congressional  honors.  I  refer  to  Robert 
T.  Conrad,  of  Philadelphia,  and  George  Washington  Barton,  of 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  They  differed  in  almost  every  thing. 
Conrad,  in  his  prime,  was  a  model  of  manly  beauty.  His  au 
burn  hair,  his  delicate  complexion,  his  musical  voice,  made  a 
strong  contrast  with  the  tall,  somewhat  ungainly  figure,  swarthy 
skin,  black  hair,  and  discordant  tones  of  Barton.  Conrad  was 
a  Whig,  Barton  was  a  Democrat ;  and  though  frequently  in  con 
flict,  they  were,  the  best  part  of  their  lives,  devoted  friends.  I 
knew  them  and  loved  them  both,  and  as  I  never  shared  in  their 
temporary  differences,  I  was  always  a  sort  of  peacemaker  be 
tween  them.  Their  very  incongruities  seemed  to  attract  them 
to  each  other.  Barton  and  myself  were  born  in  the  same  town, 
and  for  many  years  his  star  shone  unrivaled  as  a  consummate 
orator.  Conrad  came  along  from  Philadelphia  as  a  lecturer  and 
Whig  speaker.  He  was  as  much  the  idol  of  his  party  as  Barton 
was  of  ours.  They  seemed  to  "take  to"  each  other  from  the 
first,  and  when  Barton  moved  to  Philadelphia  and  was  associ 
ated  with  Conrad  in  the  local  judiciary,  they  became  almost 
constant  companions.  They  were  born  in  the  same  year,  1810, 
and  died  all  too  early,  for  their  gifts  were  precious  indeed,  and 
deserved  to  be  enjoyed  for  a  long  time  alike  by  themselves  and 
their  country.  Conrad  lived  until  1858,  when  he  was  forty-eight 
years  old;  and  Barton  is  supposed  to  have  been  drowned  in 


30  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  on  the  25th  of  January,  1851,  when 
he  was  only  forty-one.  Yet,  short  as  their  experiences  were, 
they  are  remembered  by  thousands  as  among  the  most  brilliant 
in  the  records  of  human  genius. 

As  my  sketches  are  not  biographies  in  any  sense,  but  rather 
glances  at  public  men,  I  will  not,  therefore,  follow  these  experi 
ences  in  detail,  but  confine  myself  to  a  few  instances  of  marked 
individuality,  more  to  show  how  much  real  merit  is  found  out 
side  of  the  National  Councils  than  to  do  justice  to  extraordinary 
talents.  That  is  a  duty  I  should  conceive  it  a  special  honor  to 
discharge  if  I  had  at  once  the  material  and  the  ability. 

Barton  was  an  orator  I  have  never  heard  surpassed  in  either 
House  of  Congress,  and  I  may  safely  say  this,  as  I  never  heard 
Henry  Clay.  He  lived,  unhappily,  in  the  days  when  short 
hand  reporting  was  in  its  infancy.  His  utterance  was  so  rapid, 
his  retorts  so  quick,  his  humor  so  eccentric,  that  it  would  have 
required  a  rare  adept  to  follow  him. 

He  was  the  favorite  of  every  social  circle — was  sought  after 
for  his  wit,  his  scholarship,  and  his  memory.  Mr.  Buchanan 
delighted  to  have  him  at  his  frequent  dinner-parties,  and  to  in 
troduce  him  to  his  distinguished  guests  as  a  prodigy.  He  read 
much  and  recollected  every  thing,  and  thus  acquired  a  style  all 
his  own.  His  declamation  was  peculiar  to  himself,  but  his  En 
glish  was  exact  and  pure.  Rich  and  figurative  to  a  degree,  it 
was  always  classic  and  correct.  Some  of  his  similes  and  out 
bursts,  if  reported  at  the  time,  would  survive  like  the  best  of 
Curran,  Phillips,  or  Webster.  He  resembled  Rufus  Choate  in 
astonishing  rapidity  of  speech  and  in  splendor  of  diction.  How 
often  I  have  regretted  that  his  memorable  passages  we're  not 
preserved.  The  courts  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Democratic 
conventions  resounded  with  his  unparalleled  eloquence,  and 
when  he  reached  San  Francisco  he  leaped  into  a  practice  that 
promised  to  lead  all  others.  His  last  speech  in  that  city  is  still 
spoken  of  as  one  never  equaled  and  never  forgotten.  I  will 


ROBERT  T.  CONRAD.  3^ 

not  attempt  to  give  an  idea  of  one  of  the  many  I  recollect,  for 
fear  of  doing  injustice  to  his  very  great  talents.  His  respected 
widow,  living  in  Philadelphia,  has  some  of  his  MSS.  in  her  pos 
session,  and  will,  I  hope,  soon  present  a  memoir  of  her  gifted 
husband. 

Conrad  was  more  fortunate.     He  printed  much  that  he  spoke 
and  wrote.     He  was  the  editor  of  the  Philadelphia  North  Amer 
ican  for  a  time,  while  I  was  editor  of  the  Philadelphia  Pennsyl 
vania^  and  we  had  many  exciting  controversies.     The  Whigs 
were  sure  that  he  had  the  best  of  me  during  the  Mexican  war, 
and  the  Democrats  were  as  sure  I  had  the  best  of  him :  but 
neither  side  knew  that  more  than  once  the  severest  things  we 
said  of  each  other  were  written  when  we  were  dining  together 
at  the  same  table,  and  in  the  midst  of  mutual  discussion  and 
good  nature.     There  were  not  many  days  of  that  heated  and 
angry  period  that  we  did  not  meet  as  bosom  friends ;  and 
when  his  last  remains  were  borne  to  their  repose,  I  followed 
among  those  who  mourned  the  loss  of  one  of  the  richest  intel 
lects  and  warmest  hearts  in  the  ranks  of  men.     Few  did  more 
varied  labor  in  life.     He  was  a  splendid  journalist,  orator,  and 
dramatist,  and  alternated  from  one  practical  post  to  the  other; 
was  a  good  judge,  a  brave  mayor  of  Philadelphia,  and  a  vigor 
ous  railroad  president    He  lives  in  some  of  the  finest  lyrics  of 
the  language,  and  in  his  great  play  of  "Jack  Cade,"  which  holds 
the  stage  with  tenacious  popularity.     Had  he  figured  in  Con 
gress  he  would  be  classed  among  the  Wirts,  the  Prentisses,  the 
Benjamins,  and   the   Prestons,  masters,  as   they  were,  of  the 
school  of  graceful  eloquence,  precisely  as  Barton  would  have 
figured  among  the  original  Randolphs,  the  sarcastic  McDufHes, 
the  imperious  Marshalls,  and  the  fiery  Poindexters. 

[February  19,  1871.] 


32  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


VII. 

THE  3d  of  February,  1860,  was  one  of  the  coldest  days  I 
ever  knew  in  Washington,  and  the  night  was  especially  severe. 
The  effort  to  elect  a  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States,  though  not  so  long  as  that  of  1855-56, 
when  General  Banks  was  chosen,  was  equally  exciting ;  and 
when  ex-Governor  William  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey,  was  de 
clared  presiding  officer  of  that  body  on  the  ist,  the  next  point 
of  interest  was  the  choice  of  a  Clerk.  It  was  a  period  of  anx 
ious  solicitude  to  patriotic  men.  The  possibilities  of  secession 
began  to  multiply. ,  The  North  was  determined,  the  South  de 
fiant  ;  Douglas  had  been  re-elected  Senator  from  Illinois  in 
spite  of  "  my  Lord  Cardinal  /'  Broderick  had  been  killed  in  the 
previous  September ;  Reeder,  who  had  been  removed  by  Presi 
dent  Pierce  from  the  governorship  of  Kansas,  had  been  chosen 
delegate  from  that  territory,  and  was  on  the  floor  contesting 
the  seat  of  J.W.  Whitfield,  who  had  got  the  certificate.  John 
Schwartz  had  defeated  the  Presidential  favorite,  J.  Glancy  Jones, 
in  Berks  County;  Hickman  had  been  returned  by  an  enor 
mously  increased  majority ;  Haskin,  of  the  Yonkers  district, 
New  York,  had  triumphed  in  his  open  record  of  open  hostility 
to  the  Administration.  Instead  of  getting  at  least  fifty  Demo 
crats  in  Congress  from  the  three  States  of  New  Jersey,  New 
York,  and  Pennsylvania,  they  got  but  two  from  the  first,  but 
five  from  the  second,  and  but  two  from  the  third.  John  W. 
Geary  and  Robert  J.Walker  had  followed  the  example  of  An 
drew  H.  Reeder,  and  had  given  their  experience  as  governors 
of  Kansas  in  fearless  scorn  of  the  frauds  of  the  slaveholder. 

On  the  cold  Friday  referred  to,  February  3,  1860, 1  was  elect 
ed  Clerk  of  the  House,  by  a  single  vote,  over  all  others.  It 
was  the  last  drop  in  the  bitter  bowl  of  Democratic  disappoint 
ment,  and  it  created  an  overflow  of  anger  on  the  one  side  and 


"MAZEPPA"  QUOTATION.  33 

of  satisfaction  on  the  other.  The  event  was  naturally  most 
distasteful  to  President  Buchanan,  crowning  as  it  did  a  long 
and  gloomy  procession  of  disasters.  On  the  evening  of  that 
Friday  a  large  number  of  my  personal  friends  met  at  Mr.  John 
F.  Coyle's,  whose  guest  I  was,  on  Missouri  Avenue,  to  celebrate 
the  event.  Among  these  were  many  Southerners,  and  some 
who  had  voted  against  me  only  a  few  hours  before.  As  I  count 
over  their  names,  I  find  that  not  a  few  have  since  been  entered 
on  the  books  of  death.  Schwartz,  Burlingame,  Pennington, 
Eliot,  Stevens,  have  passed  away.  They  were  all  present.  The 
usual  speeches  common  to  such  occasions  were  fired  off;  the 
old  songs  were  sung — "John  Brown"  had  not  yet  become  popu 
lar — the  old  jokes  repeated.  When  my  time  came,  I  spoke 
some  grateful  words  to  the  large  crowd  in  the  streets  and  the 
hilarious  company  in  the  rooms.  It  was  fair  poetical  justice  to 
remind  the  Administration  of  their  persecution  of  the  men  who 
had  resisted  Lecompton,  and  of  the  vindication  of  these  men 
by  the  people  in  the  elections ;  and  as  I  stood  out  on  the  bal 
cony  I  thought  of  the  famous  lines  of  Lord  Byron  in  "  Mazeppa  :55 

"  They  little  thought,  that  day  of  pain, 

When  launched,  as  on  the  lightning's  flash, 

They  bade  me  to  destruction  dash, 
That  one  day  I  should  come  again, 

With  twice  five  thousand  horse,  to  thank 
The  Count  for  his  uncourteous  ride. 

They  played  me  then  a  bitter  prank, 
When,  with  the  wild  horse  for  my  guide, 

They  bound  me  to  his  foaming  flank. 

At  length  I  played  them  one  as  frank, 
For  time  at  last  sets  all  things  even ; 

And  if  we  do  but  watch  the  hour, 

There  never  yet  was  human  power 
Which  could  evade,  if  unforgiven, 

The  patient  watch  and  vigil  long 

Of  him  who  treasures  up  a  wrong." 

But,  like  many  an  unfortunate  in  a  similar  situation,  the  whole 

B  2 


34  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

stanza  escaped  my  memory,  and  I  could  only  refer  to  it.  James 
S.  Jackson,  of  Kentucky,  one  of  the  bravest  and  best  men  I 
ever  knew,  stood  at  my  side,  and  I  asked  him,  sotto  voce,  to  help 
me  out.  "  Remember  it  yourself,  you  infernal  Black  Republi 
can,"  was  his  quick  reply,  and  I  finished  my  remarks  as  best  I 
could.  Jackson  was  elected  to  Congress  from  his  State  as  a 
Union  man  in  1861,  and  before  the  expiration  of  his  term  raised 
a  regiment  of  Kentucky  volunteers,  and  was  killed  in  the  battle 
of  Perry ville  in  1862.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  just  made  him  a  briga 
dier-general.  He  died  too  soon.  Nature  had  been  prodigal 
of  her  gifts  to  Jackson.  To  a  face  of  singular,  almost  feminine 
beauty,  was  added  the  graceful  form  of  an  athlete  and  the 
manners  of  a  Chesterfield.  He  took  the  right  side  in  a  commu 
nity  tainted  with  wrong  views.  It  would  have  been  far  easier 
for  him  to  have  followed  his  intimate  friends  Breckinridge, 
Hawkins,  and  Preston  into  the  Confederate  service,  and  it  was 
a  hard  struggle  to  differ  with  them,  but  he  did  it  bravely,  pre 
serving  their  love  in  life,  and  calling  out  their  manly  sorrow 
over  his  gallant  death. 

At  the  risk  of  talking  a  little  more  about  myself  than  I  care 
to  do,  I  venture  to  reproduce  the  following  from  the  speech 
of  Hon.  John  B.  Haskin,  of  New  York,  on  that  memorable 
evening : 

"  A  short  time  ago  the  New  York  Herald  had,  at  the  instiga 
tion  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  as  he  knew,  revived  the  Forrest  letter, 
and  had  suggested  that  it  be  read  from  the  Clerk's  desk  when 
Forney  was  nominated.  Singularly  enough,  this  had  not  been 
done,  but,  expecting  that  it  would  be,  Colonel  Forney  had  ad 
dressed  him  a  letter  in  relation  to  this  famous  Forrest  letter,  so 
much  misconstrued.  He  would  have  read  this  letter  in  the 
House,  but  there  was  no  necessity  for  it.  He  would  now  read 
it,  however,  as  he  knew  those  present  would  like  to  hear  it 
The  following  is  the  letter.- 


THE   FORREST  LETTER.  35 

"'WASHINGTON,  Feb.  I,  i860. 

"'MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  need  not  repeat  to  you  that  my  name  has  been  as 
sociated  with  the  position  of  Clerk  of  the  House,  rather  through  the  par 
tiality  of  kind  friends  like  yourself  than  because  of  any  efforts  of  my  own 
to  become  a  candidate.  I  have  importuned  no  single  Representative  for 
his  vote.  In  the  present  condition  of  politics  I  have  preferred  to  let  events 
take  their  course,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  maintaining  the  position  I  have 
held  for  the  last  two  years  of  uncompromising  hostility  to  the  prescriptive 
and  shameless  policy  of  the  present  Administration  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  and  of  hearty  co-operation  with  all  men  who  look  to  the  overthrow 
of  that  Administration,  its  advocates  and  its  indorsers.  I  have  been  in 
formed,  however,  that,  if  my  name  should  be  presented  to  the  House,  an  issue 
is  to  be  made  on  account  of  a  letter  which  I  wrote  nearly  ten  years  ago,  in 
connection  with  the  case  of  Mr.  Edwin  Forrest.  I  had  hoped  that  no  one 
would  be  found  willing  to  make  this  act  of  devotion  to  a  cherished,  and,  as 
I  believed,  deeply  injured  friend,  the  pretext  of  an  assault  upon  my  reputa 
tion.  If  in  writing  this  letter  I  committed  an  error,  I  only  became  conscious 
of  it  when  I  saw  how  it  could  be  misconstrued  ;  and,  if  I  needed  any  assur 
ances  that  this  error  had  been  overlooked,  I  had  it  in  my  re-election  to  the 
Clerkship  of  the  House  in  1853,  in  the  unanimous  indorsement  of  my  con 
duct  by  members  of  all  parties  of  that  body  after  I  had  presided  over  the 
deliberations  of  the  House  in  the  stormy  struggle  of  1855  and  1856,  in  my 
nomination,  by  the  Democrats  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  as  their  can 
didate  for  United  States  Senator  in  1857,  and  in  the  repeated  voluntary  ten 
ders  of  distinguished  official  position  by  the  present  President  of  the  United 
States,  who  has  not  permitted  the  recollection  of  my  many  years  of  cham 
pionship  of  his  aspirations  to  outweigh  the  fact  that  I  could  not  conscien 
tiously  follow  him  in  his  abandonment  and  violation  of  the  pledges  and 
principles  upon  which  alone  he  was  chosen  Chief  Magistrate.  I  will  not 
imitate  the  example  set  by  his  personal  organ,  the  New  York  Herald,  in 
making  the  revelation  of  a  private  letter  a  matter  of  public  discussion.  If  I 
could  sink  so  low,  I  might  find  additional  evidence  of  the  fact,  over  his  own 
name,  that  my  connection  with  the  Forrest  case  never  deprived  me  of  a 
particle  of  his  confidence  and  affection,  which  up  to  a  certain  period  he  so 
freely  and  so  flatteringly  bestowed  upon  me. 

"'You  can  make  any  use  of  this  note  you  see  proper.  Should  the  House 
elect  me  Clerk,  I  will  accept  the  office  and  discharge  the  duties  in  the  spirit 
in  which  it  is  conferred.  Should  the  result  be  otherwise,  my  position  will 
remain  unchanged.  I  have  tried  the  experiment  of  conducting  an  inde 
pendent  journal  against  all  the  office-holding  power  of  the  Federal  Govern- 


36  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

ment,  and  I  will  not  surrender  my  relation  to  that  enterprise  whether  I  gain 
or  lose  the  position  with  which  my  name  has  been  once  more  associated. 
"  '  Yours,  very  truly,  J.  W.  FORNEY. 

"  <  Hon.  JOHN  B.  HASKIN.'  " 

A  curious  sequel  to  this  same  evening  happened  while  I  was 
in  London  in  May  of  1867.  I  was  invited  to  a  club  of  young 
Englishmen  who  had  been  the  pronounced  friends  of  our  Union 
during  the  war.  Mr.  Benjamin  Moran,  the  accomplished  Secre 
tary  of  the  American  Legation,  kindly  accompanied  me,  and 
introduced  me  to  most  of  those  present.  One  gentleman  was 
especially  cordial,  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish,  second  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire.  I  found  him  an  advanced  Liberal,  and 
very  pleasant  and  intelligent.  As  we  sat  smoking  together  on 
the  sofa,  he  turned  to  me  and  said  :  "  By-the-way,  I  heard  you 
make  a  very  fiery  speech  on  a  very  cold  night  in  Washington, 
in  the  early  winter  of  1860.  It  was  from  the  window  or  balcony 
of  a  house  on  Missouri  Avenue."  I  looked  at  him  with  surprise, 
when  he  laughingly  said :  "  I  lived  in  Washington  for  some  time 
as  a  member  of  the  British  embassy,  and  felt  an  interest  in  the 
Democratic  dissensions.  When  you  were  elected  Clerk,  myself 
and  two  friends  took  a  carriage,  and,  expecting  a  speech,  rode 
to  your  lodgings,  and  we  were  well  rewarded  even  for  the  cold 
we  endured  among  the  outside  audience."  It  was  a  pleasant 
and  a  curious  reminiscence,  and  as  such  I  record  it  in  these 
hasty  sketches. 

[February  26,  1870.] 


VIII. 

THE  public  man  with  a  reputation  for  wit  is  apt  to  become 
responsible  for  all  the  best  jokes,  old  and  new.  Many  a  Joe 
Miller  was  and  is  still  credited  to  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  Abra- 


THADDEUS    STEVENS.  37 

ham  Lincoln.  Things  they  never  said,  now  that  both  are  gone, 
are  boldly  laid  upon  their  memories.  But  no  two  men,  perhaps, 
so  entirely  different  in  character,  ever  threw  off  more  sponta 
neous  jokes.  Mr.  Stevens  rarely  told  a  story.  He  was  strong 
in  repartee,  in  retort,  in  quiet  interrogatory.  He  must  have 
been  terrible  at  the  cross-examination  of  a  witness.  There  is 
nothing  finer,  as  I  think,  in  the  annals  of  humor  than  his  quaint 
questions  to  David  Reese  and  John  Chauncey,  the  two  officers 
of  the  House  who  in  his  last  days  used  to  carry  him  in  a  large 
arm-chair  from  his  lodgings  across  the  public  grounds  up  the 
broad  stairs  of  the  noble  Capitol — "Who  will  be  so  good  to  me 
and  take  me  up  in  their  strong  arms  when  you  two  mighty  men 
are  gone  ?"  Here  was  not  only  uncommon  wit,  but  a  sense  of 
intellectual  immortality.  A  consciousness  of  superiority  of  an 
other  sort  was  his  answer  to  John  Hickman,  who  called  as 
Stevens  laid  on  his  bed,  when  he  felt  the  grip  of  the  grim  mes 
senger  fastening  on  him.  Hickman  told  the  old  man  he  was 
looking  well.  "  Ah,  John  !"  was  his  quick  reply,  "  it  is  not  my 
appearance,  but  my  disappearance,  that  troubles  me."  A  mem 
ber  of  the  House  who  was  known  for  his  uncertain  course  on 
all  questions,  and  who  often  confessed  that  he  never  fully  in 
vestigated  a  mooted  point  without  finding  himself  a  neutral, 
asked  for  leave  of  absence.  "  Mr.  Speaker,"  said  Stevens,  "  I 
do  not  rise  to  object,  but  to  suggest  that  the  honorable  member 
need  not  ask  this  favor,  for  he  can  easily  pair  off  with  himself." 
He  was  charitable,  but  never  ostentatiously  so.  "Oh,  sir!" 
said  a  beggar  woman  to  him  one  cold  morning  as  he  was  limp 
ing  to  the  House,  "Oh,  sir!  I  have  just  lost  all  the  money  I 
had  in  the  world."  "And  how  much  was  that?"  "Oh,  sir! 
it  was  seventy-five  cents."  "You  don't  say  so,"  was  the  old 
man's  answer,  as  he  put  a  five-dollar  bill  into  her  hands  ;  "  and 
how  wonderful  it  is  that  I  should  have  just  found  what  you  had 
lost !" 

Shortly  after  I  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  House,  in  1860,  a 


38  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

lady  friend,  since  deceased,  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  wife  of  one  of  her  best  servants,  Sam,  was  about  to  be  sent 
away  from  him  to  Georgia,  and  that  unless  over  eight  hundred 
dollars  could  be  raised  for  her  in  forty-eight  hours,  her  master,  a 
man  living  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  would  be  sure  to  sell  her  to 
strangers.  The  case  was  a  terrible  one.  Sam  was  a  fine  fellow, 
and  his  distress  was  grievous.  I  sat  down  and  wrote  out  the 
facts,  headed  the  subscription,  and  in  a  few  hours  raised  the 
money,  paying  over  three  hundred  dollars  myself.  The  papers 
were  made  out  to  me,  and  I  set  the  woman  free.  "Well," 
said  Mr.  Stevens,  as  he  paid  his  fifty  dollars,  "  this  is  the  first 
time  I  ever  heard  of  a  Democrat  buying  a  negro  and  then 
giving  her  her  liberty  !" 

He  affected  much  indignation  when  President  Lincoln  con 
signed  Roger  A.  Pryor  to  me  as  a  sort  of  prisoner-guest  in  1865, 
and  regularly  every  morning  would  greet  me  with  the  grim  re 
mark  :  "  How  is  your  Democratic  friend,  General  Pryor  ?  I 
hope  you  are  both  well."  I  was  a  little  annoyed  by  his  sar 
casm,  and  when  an  appeal  was  made  to  me  by  an  old  citizen 
to  assist  in  pardoning  another  Confederate,  I  referred  him  to 
Mr.  Stevens.  He  happened  to  know  the  Great  Commoner, 
and  went  over  to  him  with  my  message.  Judge  of  my  surprise 
when  he  returned  with  the  proposition  that  whatever  I  wrote 
he  [Stevens]  would  sign.  I  dictated  the  strongest  appeal  to 
the  President,  and  Mr.  Stevens  put  his  name  to  it.  Of  course, 
I  indorsed  the  petition ;  but  I  did  not  fail  to  remind  my  neigh 
bor  that  very  day  of  his  inconsistency.  "  Oh  !  you  need  not  be 
riled  about  it,"  was  the  retort ;  "  I  saw  you  were  going  heavily 
into  the  Pardon  business,  and  thought  I  would  take  a  hand  in  it 
myself." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  humorist  of  another  school.  He  delighted 
in  parables  and  stories.  His  treasures  of  memory  were  in 
exhaustible.  He  never  failed  for  an  illustration.  He  liked  the 
short  farce  better  than  the  five-act  tragedy.  He  would  shout 


ff*s  s 

flu  N  "^  VR  R  SI  1 

PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.        %^JpQ^V 

with  laughtei  over  a  French,  German,  or  negro  anecdote,  and 
he  was  always  ready  to  match  the  best  with  a  better.  More 
than  once,  when  I  bore  a  message  to  him  from  the  Senate,  he 
detained  me  with  some  amusing  sketch  of  Western  life.  He 
seemed  to  have  read  the  character,  and  to  know  the  peculiarities 
of  every  leading  man  in  Congress  and  the  country,  and  would 
play  off  many  an  innocent  joke  upon  them.  I  will  not  attempt 
to  repeat  what  has  been  so  often  described.  There  was  also  a 
sacred  confidence  around  many  of  those  scenes  which  could 
not  be  violated  without  offense  to  many  living  good  men  ;  and 
as  I  do  not  write  to  wound  the  feelings,  I  will  not  profane  an 
illustrious  memory  by  reviving  what  would  only  give  unneces 
sary  pain. 

His  two  inaugurations  were  accompanied  by  apprehensions 
of  his  assassination,  and  the  second  was  followed  in  a  little 
more  than  a  month  by  his  murder.  At  the  inauguration  of 
March  4,  1861, 1  was  present  as  Clerk  of  the  House.  At  the 
inauguration  of  March  4,  1865, 1  was  present  as  Secretary  of 
the  Senate.  James  Buchanan,  as  ex-President,  heard  the  re 
markable  first  message  of  the  man  who  succeeded  him,  just  as 
Andrew  Johnson  heard  the  still  more  remarkable  inauguration 
of  the  man  he  succeeded.  War  followed  the  one,  peace  and 
assassination  the  other.  The  scene  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  on  the  4th  of  March  1865,  when  Andrew  Johnson  was 
sworn  in  as  Vice-President,  has  too  often  been  painted  to  be 
set  out  into  daylight  again.  Let  it  rest.  I  refer  to  it  now 
only  to  relate  one  incident.  After  we  reached  the  eastern  and 
middle  portion  of  the  Capitol,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  took  the  oath, 
Johnson  was  under  a  state  of  great  excitement,  and  was  in  my 
immediate  charge.  I  was  confident,  however,  that  he  would  be 
subdued  before  the  President  finished  his  inaugural.  To  the 
surprise  of  every  body  however,  except,  perhaps,  the  Cabinet, 
Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  consume  five  minutes  in  repeating  it.  As 
soon  as  the  people  outside  saw  that  he  was  done,  loud  cries 


40  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

were  raised  for  Johnson,  upon  which  we  hastily  retreated  to  the 
Senate  chamber,  and  closed  the  unhappy  and  inauspicious  day. 
On  the  i4th  of  the  succeeding  month  of  April,  the  murder 
planned  four  years  before,  and  baffled  by  superior  foresight,  was 
executed,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  was  dying  from  the  pistol-shot 
of  Booth. 

[March  5,  1871.] 


IX. 

CIRCUMSTANCE  often  controls  men  as  inexorably  as  con 
science.  Many  a  Confederate  would  have  been  a  Radical  if 
he  had  lived  in  the  North,  just  as  many  a  Radical  would  have 
been  a  Confederate  if  he  had  lived  in  the  South.  Howell  Cobb 
was  one  of  the  best  types  of  this  idea.  There  was  an  under 
current  of  anti-slavery,  or  rather  a  profound  devotion  to  the 
Union,  in  his  nature.  Take  his  campaign  against  the  Nullifiers 
of  the  South  in  1850,  when  he  ran  as  an  independent  candi 
date  for  governor  of  Georgia,  and  was  elected  over  Charles  J. 
McDonald,  the  leader  of  the  Calhounites.  At  the  close  of  his 
first  eight  years  in  Congress,  and  at  the  end  of  his  Speakership 
of  the  House,  I  sat  with  him  in  his  official  room  at  the  Capitol, 
and  heard  his  eloquent  declaration  that  he  would  make  war 
upon  these  men,  cost  him  what  it  might.  The  contest  was  ex^ 
citing  to  a  degree.  Personal  vituperation  and  personal  threats 
were  as  common  against  Cobb  as  they  were  twenty  years  after 
against  Bullock,  the  Republican  governor  of  Georgia.  In  1855 
Governor  Cobb  was  again  sent  to  Congress,  and  there  took 
early  and  patriotic  ground  against  the  extremists.  He  was  so 
anxious  to  make  Mr.  Buchanan  President,  that  in  1856,  on  my 
invitation,  he  came  into  Pennsylvania,  and  traversed  Chester 
County  with  John  Hickman,  pledging  the  Democracy  to  justice 


JOHN   C.  BRECKINRIDGE.  41 

to  the  people  of  Kansas.  His  argument  was  exceedingly  ef 
fective,  and  thousands  voted  for  the  "favorite  son"  because  they 
believed  the  impassioned  Georgian. 

Yet  as  the  controversy  deepened  Governor  Cobb  yielded 
to  the  exactions  of  his  section,  and  when  the  rebellion  burst 
upon  us  he  was  one  of  the  foremost  and  most  resolute  of  the 
secession  chiefs.  He  died  in  New  York  in  1869,  in  his  54th 
year,  greatly  mourned  in  Georgia,  where  he  leaves  large  family 
connections.  Before  we  revive  the  censure  of  his  conduct  as 
James  Buchanan's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  as  one  of  the 
members  of  the  government  of  Jefferson  Davis,  let  us  "  put  our 
selves  in  his  place." 

Another  illustration  of  the  force  of  circumstances  is  that  of 
John  Cabell  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky.  I  have  always  believed 
that  he  espoused  the  Confederacy,  if  not  reluctantly,  at  least  in 
the  conviction  that  it  would  forever  end  his  political  career. 
He  inherited  hostility  to  slavery.  When  he  came  to  Washing 
ton  in  1851  as  a  Representative  from  the  old  Henry  Clay  Lex 
ington  district,  in  Kentucky,  he  was  in  no  sense  an  extremist. 
At  that  early  day,  when  he  had  just  attained  his  soth  year,  and 
I  was  in  my  3 4th,  we  conferred  freely  and  frequently  on  the 
future  of  our  country.  He  used  to  relate  how  Sam  Houston, 
for  whom  he  had  great  respect,  would  expatiate  upon  the  dan 
gers  and  evils  of  slavery ;  and  it  was  not  difficult  to  trace  the 
operation  of  the  same  idea  in  his  own  mind.  But  he  was  too 
interesting  a  character  to  be  neglected  by  the  able  ultras  of  the 
South.  They  saw  in  his  winning  manners,  attractive  appear 
ance,  and  rare  talent  for  public  affairs,  exactly  the  elements 
they  needed  in  their  concealed  designs  against  the  country.  If 
they  were  successful  in  arousing  his  ambition  and  finally  mak 
ing  him  one  of  themselves,  we  must  not  forget  that  few  men 
similarly  placed  would  have  been  proof  against  such  blandish 
ments.  Let  this  be  said  of  him.  He  was  never  prominent  in 
the  small  persecutions  of  the  Democrats  who  refused  to  indorse 


42  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

the  course  of  the  Administration  of  which  he  was  Vice-Presi 
dent.  No  doubt  that  lost  him  the  confidence  of  the  President 
and  his  immediate  followers. 

He  was  made  a  Senator  in  Congress  from  Kentucky  when 
the  Buchanan  regime  expired,  taking  his  seat  on  the  very  day 
that  his  venerable  chief  retired  to  Wheatland ;  and  he  remained 
a  Senator  in  Congress  till  the  close  of  the  called  session,  which 
opened  on  the  i4th  of  July,  and  closed  on  the  6th  of  August, 
1861.  He  was  the  leader  of  the  Democracy  in  that  exciting 
month,  and  though  he  gave  no  sign  of  his  intention  to  join  the 
rebel  army,  nobody  was  surprised  when  he  was  reported  at 
Richmond,  Virginia. 

Perhaps  the  most  dramatic  scene  that  ever  took  place  in  the 
Senate  Chamber— old  or  new— was  that  between  Breckinridge 
and  Colonel  E.  D.  Baker,  of  Oregon,  on  the  ist  of  August,  1861, 
five  days  before  the  adjournment  sine  die,  in  the  darkest  period 
of  the  war,  when  the  rebellion  was  most  defiant  and  hopeful. 
The  last  week  of  that  July  was  full  of  excitement  in  Congress 
and  the  country,  and  I  know  how  much  labor  and  patience  it 
required  to  keep  alive  the  hopes  of  our  people.  The  course  of 
Powell  and  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  and  Bright,  of  Indiana, 
in  opposing  the  Government,  had  nearly  obliterated  party  feel 
ing  in  the  Senate.  McDougall,  of  California,  Rice,  of  Minne 
sota,  Thompson,  of  New  Jersey,  all  Democrats,  had  declared  for 
force  to  crush  the  rebellion.  These  men  were  especially  em 
phatic,  though  closely  endeared  to  Breckinridge.  Thompson, 
of  New  Jersey,  spoke  loud  and  firm  from  his  seat — "  I  shall  vote 
for  the  bill  as  a  war  measure — I  am  in  favor  of  carrying  on  the 
war  to  crush  out  the  rebellion."  The  same  day  McDougall 
questioned  the  right  of  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  to  his  seat  in  the 
Senate.  Andrew  Johnson  reiterated  his  determination  to  stand 
by  the  flag  to  the  last.  Carlile,  of  West  Virginia,  would  vote 
for  force  to  put  down  the  rebel  foe. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  feeling  that  Breckinridge  rose  to 


SENATOR    E.  D.  BAKER.  43 

make  his  last  formal  indictment  against  the  Government. 
Never  shall  I  forget  the  scene.  Baker  was  a  Senator  and  a 
soldier.  He  alternated  between  his  seat  in  the  Capitol  and  his 
tent  in  the  field.  He  came  in  at  the  eastern  door  (while  Breck- 
inridge  was  speaking)  in  his  blue  coat  and  fatigue  cap,  riding- 
whip  in  hand.  He  paused  and  listened  to  the  "  polished  trea 
son,"  as  he  afterward  called  it,  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky, 
and,  when  he  sat  down,  he  replied  with  a  fervor  never  to  be 
forgotten.  One  or  two  of  his  passages  deserve  to  be  repeated  : 
"  To  talk  to  us  about  stopping  is  idle ;  we  will  never  stop. 
Will  the  Senator  yield  to  rebellion  ?  Will  he  shrink  from  arm 
ed  insurrection  ?  Will  his  State  justify  it  ?  Will  its  better  pub 
lic  opinion  allow  it  ?  Shall  we  send  a  flag  of  truce  ?  What 
would  he  have  ?  Or  would  he  conduct  this  war  so  feebly  that 
the  whole  world  would  smile  at  us  in  derision  ?  What  would  he 
have  ?  These  speeches  of  his,  sown  broadcast  over  the  land — 
what  clear,  distinct  meaning  have  they  ?  Are  they  not  intended 
for  disorganization  in  our  very  midst  ?  Are  they  not  intended 
to  dull  our  weapons?  Are  they  not  intended  to  destroy  our 
zeal?  Are  they  not  intended  to  animate  our  enemies?  Sir, 
are  they  not  words  of  brilliant,  polished  treason,  even  in  the 
very  Capitol  of  the  Confederacy  ?"  [Manifestations  of  applause 
in  the  galleries.] 

The  presiding  officer  (Mr.  Anthony  in  the  chair).—"  Order  !" 
MR.  BAKER.  "  What  would  have  been  thought  if,  in  another 
Capitol,  in  another  Republic,  in  a  yet  more  martial  age,  a  Sen 
ator  as  grave,  not  more  eloquent  or  dignified  than  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky,  yet  with  the  Roman  purple  flowing  over  his 
shoulders,  had  risen  in  his  place,  surrounded  by  all  the  illus 
trations  of  Roman  glory,  and  declared  that  advancing  Hannibal 
was  just,  and  that  Carthage  ought  to  be  dealt  with  in  terms  of 
peace  ?  What  would  have  been  thought  if,  after  the  battle  of 
Cannae,  a  Senator  there  had  risen  in  his  place  and  denounced 
every  levy  of  the  Roman  people,  every  expenditure  of  its  treas- 


44  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

ure,  and  every  appeal  to  the  old  recollections  and  the  old  glo 
ries  ?  Sir,  a  Senator,  himself  learned  far  more  than  myself  in 
such  lore  [Mr.  Fessenden],  tells  me  in  a  voice  that  I  am  glad 
is  audible,  that  he  would  have  been  hurled  from  the  Tarpeian 
Rock.  It  is  a  grand  commentary  upon  the  American  Consti 
tution  that  we  permit  these  words  to  be  uttered.  I  ask  the  Sen 
ator  to  recollect,  too,  what,  save  to  send  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy,  do  these  predictions  amount  to  ?  Every  word  thus  ut 
tered  falls  as  a  note  of  inspiration  upon  every  Confederate  ear. 
Every  sound  thus  uttered  is  a  word  (and,  falling  from  his  lips, 
a  mighty  word)  of  kindling  and  triumph  to  a  foe  that  deter 
mines  to  advance.  For  me,  I  have  no  such  word  as  a  Senator 
to  utter.  For  me,  amid  temporary  defeat,  disaster,  disgrace,  it 
seems  that  my  duty  calls  me  to  utter  another  word,  and  that 
word  is  bold,  sudden,  forward,  determined  war,  according  to 
the  laws  of  war,  by  armies,  by  military  commanders,  clothed 
with  full  power,  advancing  with  all  the  past  glories  of  the  Re 
public  urging  them  on  to  conquest." 

Breckinridge  had  made  the  following  prediction  : 
" '  War  is  separation/  is  the  language  of  an  eminent  gentle 
man  now  no  more ;  it  is  disunion,  eternal  and  final  disunion. 
We  have  separation  now ;  it  is  only  made  worse  by  war,  and 
an  utter  extinction  of  all  those  sentiments  of  common  interest 
and  feeling  which  might  lead  to  a  political  reunion  founded 
upon  consent  and  upon  a  conviction  of  its  advantages.  Let 
the  war  go  on,  however,  and  soon,  in  addition  to  the  moans  of 
widows  and  orphans  all  over  this  land,  you  will  hear  the  cry 
of  distress  from  those  who  want  food  and  the  comforts  of  life. 
The  people  will  be  unable  to  pay  the  grinding  taxes  which  a 
fanatical  spirit  will  attempt  to  impose  upon  them.  Nay  more, 
sir  ;  you  will  see  further  separation.  I  hope  it  is  not  '  the  sun 
set  of  life  gives  me  mystical  lore/  but  in  my  mind's  eye  I 
plainly  see  '  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before.'  The 
Pacific  slope  now,  doubtless,  is  devoted  to  the  union  of  States. 


SENATOR   E.  D.  BAKER.  45 

Let  this  war  go  on  till  they  find  the  burdens  of  taxation  greater 
than  the  burdens  of  a  separate  condition,  and  they  will  assent 
to  it.  Let  the  war  go  on  until  they  see  the  beautiful  features 
of  the  old  Confederacy  beaten  out  of  shape  and  comeliness  by 
the  brutalizing  hand  of  war,  and  they  will  turn  aside  in  disgust 
from  the  sickening  spectacle,  and  become  a  separate  nation. 
Fight  twelve  months  longer,  and  the  already  opening  differen 
ces  that  you  see  between  New  England  and  the  great  North 
west  will  develop  themselves.  You  have  two  confederacies 
now.  Fight  twelve  months,  and  you  will  have  three ;  twelve 
months  longer,  and  you  will  have  four." 

Baker,  in  reply,  made  the  following  prediction,  which  he  did 
not  live  to  see  fulfilled  —  having  died  in  battle  at  Ball's  Bluff, 
Va.,  on  the  2ist  of  October,  1861 — less  than  three  months 
after : 

"  I  tell  the  Senator  that  his  predictions— sometimes  for  the 
South,  sometimes  for  the  Middle  States,  sometimes  for  the 
Northeast,  and  then  wandering  away  in  airy  visions  out  to  the 
far  Pacific,  about  the  dread  of  our  people  as  to  the  loss  of  blood 
and  treasure,  provoking  them  to  disloyalty — are  false  in  senti 
ment,  false  in  fact,  and  false  in  loyalty.  The  Senator  from 
Kentucky  is  mistaken  in  them  all.  Five  hundred  million  dol 
lars!  What  then?  Great  Britain  gave  more  than  two  thou 
sand  millions  in  the  great  battle  for  constitutional  liberty  which 
she  led  at  one  time,  almost  single-handed,  against  the  world. 
Five  hundred  thousand  men  !  What  then  ?  We  have  them  ; 
they  are  ours  ;  they  are  children  of  the  country ;  they  belong  to 
the  whole  country  ;  they  are  our  sons — our  kinsmen,  and  there 
are  many  of  us  who  will  give  them  all  up  before  we  will  abate 
one  word  of  our  just  demand,  or  will  retreat  one  inch  from  the 
line  which  divides  right  from  wrong. 

"  Sir,  it  is  not  a  question  of  men  or  of  money  in  that  sense. 
All  the  money,  all  the  men,  are,  in  our  judgment,  well  bestowed 
in  such  a  cause.  When  we  give  them  we  know  their  value. 


46  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Knowing  their  value  well,  we  give  them  with  the  more  pride 
and  the  more  joy.     Sir,  how  can  we  retreat  ?     Sir,  how  can  we 
make  peace  ?     Who  shall  treat  ?     What  commissioners  ?    Who 
would  go  ?     Upon  what  terms  ?     Where  is  to  be  your  boundary- 
line  ?    Where  the  end  of  principles  we  shall  have  to  give  up  ? 
What  will  become   of  constitutional   government  ?    What  will 
become  of  public  liberty  ?    What  of  the  past  glories  ?     What 
of  future  hopes  ?     Shall  we  sink  into  the  insignificance  of  the 
grave  _  a  degraded,  defeated,  emasculated  people,  frightened 
by  the  results  of  one  battle,  and  scared  by  the  visions  raised 
by  the  imagination  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  upon  this 
floor?     No,  sir!    a  thousand  times,  no,  sir!     We  will  rally—if, 
indeed,  our  words  be  necessary — we  will  rally  the  people,  the 
loyal  people  of  the  whole  country.     They  will  pour  forth  their 
treasure,  their  money,  their  men,  without  stint,  without  measure. 
The  most  peaceable  man  in  this  body  may  stamp  his  foot  upon 
this  Senate-chamber  floor,  as  of  old  a  warrior  and  a  Senator 
did,  and  from  that  single  tramp  there  will  spring  forth  armed 
legions.     Shall  one  battle  determine  the  fate  of  empire  or  a 
dozen  ?     The  loss  of  one  thousand  men  or  twenty  thousand,  of 
one  hundred  million  dollars  or  five  hundred  million?     In  a 
year,  in  ten  years  at  most,  of  peaceful  progress  we  can  restore 
them  all.     There  will  be  some  graves  reeking  with  blood,  wa 
tered  by  the  tears  of  affection.     There  will  be  some  privation; 
there  will  be  some  loss  of  luxury ;  there  will  be  somewhat  more 
need  for  labor  to  procure  the  necessaries  of  life.     When  that 
is  said,  all  is  said.     If  we  have  the  country,  the  whole  country, 
the  Union,  the  Constitution,  free  government — with  these  there 
will  return  all  the  blessings  of  well-ordered  civilization ;  the 
path  of  the  country  will  be  a  career  of  greatness  and  of  glory 
such  as,  in  the  olden  time,  our  fathers  saw  in  the  dim  vision 
of  years  yet  to  come,  and  such  as  would  have  been  ours  now, 
to-day,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  treason  for  which  the 
ator  too  often  seeks  to  apologize." 


JOHN   C.  BRECKINRIDGE.  47 

An  amusing  episode  followed  the  debate.  Breckinridge 
thought  it  was  Sumner  who  answered  Baker's  interrogatory, 
"  What  would  have  been  done  with  a  Roman  Senator  guilty  of 
such  treason  ?"  by  exclaiming  that  "  He  would  have  been  hurled 
from  the  Tarpeian  Rock."  And  he  denounced  the  Massachu 
setts  Senator  in  severe  and  angry  Saxon.  When  Breckinridge 
discovered  it  was  Fessenden  and  not  Sumner  who  had  given 
this  response,  he  did  not  complain  of  the  first  nor  apologize  to 
the  second.  The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  has  a  sort  of 
vicarious  office  to  this  day,  and  suffers  a  great  deal  from  the 
sins  of  others. 

The  contrast  between  the  prophets,  living  and  dead,  is  useful, 
and  does  not  seem  to  have  been  lost  upon  the  survivor,  Mr. 
Breckinridge,  if  we  may  judge  by  his  deportment  since  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  by  the  following  words  spoken  by  him  at 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  on  the  i3th  of  October  last,  at  a  meeting 
called  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  Con 
federate  military  leader.  It  was  a  meeting  of  men  of  all  parties, 
and  he  said  :  "  If  the  spirit  which  animates  the  assembly  before 
me  to-night  shall  become  general  and  extend  over  the  whole 
country,  then  indeed  may  we  say  that  the  wounds  of  the  late 
war  are  truly  healed.  We  ask  only  for  him  what  we  concede 
to  the  manly  qualities  of  others.  Among  the  more  eminent  of 
the  Federal  generals  who  fell  during  the  war,  or  have  since 
died,  may  be  mentioned  Thomas  and  McPherson.  What  Con 
federate  would  refuse  to  raise  his  cap  as  their  funeral  train 
passed  by,  or  grudge  to  drop  a  flower  upon  their  soldier-graves  ?" 

And  doubtless  if  he  had  thought  of  it  he  would  have  included 
in  the  list  of  "  Federal  soldiers  "  the  gallant  Baker  of  Oregon, 
whose  prediction  of  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion  he  has  lived 
to  realize,  and,  I  hope,  not  to  regret. 

[March  12,  1871.] 


48  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 


X. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  was  a  Representative  in  Congress  from 
— three  years  after  he  left  the  Presidency — to  the  23d  of 
February,  1848,  when  he  fell  from  his  seat  in  the  House,  and 
died  literally  in  harness.  The  lives  of  the  Adamses  have  been 
unusually  busy  and  brilliant.  John,  the  second  President,  was 
a  patriot  of  the  impulsive  school,  honest  and  self-willed.  John 
Quincy,  his  son,  was  in  some  respects  a  larger  and  a  riper  mind; 
Charles  Francis,  his  living  grandson,  is  a  more  cautious  and  con 
servative  personage,  while  his  great-grandsons  are  spoken  of  as 
men  of  learning  and  culture.  This  family  is  one  of  the  few  evi 
dences  of  the  transmission  of  genius  in  the  same  blood.  There 
is  really  no  representative  left  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Clay, 
Webster,  Calhoun,  or  Jackson.  It  seems  to  have  been  ordain 
ed  that  each  was  to  be  the  last  of  his  race,  and  that  none  should 
be  left  to  eclipse  his  fame.  The  first  time  I  ever  saw  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  also  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  This  was  in  May  of  1846,  while  Polk  was  President, 
and  James  Buchanan  Secretary  of  State.  The  annexation  of 
Texas  was  the  reigning  issue.  Parties  were  divided  upon  it, 
and  John  Quincy  Adams  led  the  opposition.  He  was  in  his 
seventy-ninth  year.  Douglas  was  in  his  thirty-third.  The  con 
trast  was  marked  between  the  feeble  and  bald-headed  states 
man  and  the  boyish  face  and  figure  of  the  black-eyed  and 
black-haired  partisan.  The  one  was  closing  out  his  eventful 
career — the  other  was  beginning  his,  not  so  varied,  but  crowded 
with  almost  as  many  trials.  As  I  sat  in  the  gallery  that  sweet 
May  morning,  and  looked  down  upon  the  men  who  led  and 
dominated  the  deliberations,  I  little  thought  of  the  terrible  fut 
ure  before  us,  and  that  I  should  outlive  many  who  were  then 
in  the  prime  of  a  vigorous  manhood.  Young  as  I  was,  I  was  ed 
itor  enough  to  know  the  leaders,  either  personally  or  by  name. 


STATESMEN    OF    FORTY-SIX.  49 

There  were  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  Adams  and  Winthrop, 
of  Massachusetts,  Collamer  and  Foot,  of  Vermont  (both  after 
ward  in  the  Senate  and  since  dead),  Preston  King,  of  New 
York  (afterward  a  Senator  and  since  dead),  Brodhead,  Charles 
J.  Ingersoll,  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll,  Lewis  C.  Levin,  and  David 
Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  the  first  and  last  afterward  in  the 
Senate,  and  the  whole  number  now  in  their  graves ;  Thomas 
H.  Bayley  and  George  C.  Dromgoole,  of  Virginia,  both  since 
dead.  There  also  were  McKay,  of  North  Carolina,  Linn  Boyd, 
of  Kentucky,  Cave  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  S.  F.  Vinton  and 
Joshua  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  all  gathered  to  their  fathers.  And 
there  also  were  many  yet  living,  like  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Ten 
nessee,  Stevens  and  Toombs,  of  Georgia — these  two  last  among 
the  most  active  of  the  moderate  men  of  that  period ;  Whigs  as 
earnest  as  young  Delano  and  Schenck,  of  Ohio,  who  were  in 
the  same  House,  one  of  them  now  General  Grant's  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  and  the  other  his  Minister  to  England. 

In  this  same  Congress,  a  Representative  from  Illinois,  was 
E.  D.  Baker,  afterward  a  Senator  from  Oregon,  whose  noble  re 
ply  to  Breckinridge,  some  fifteen  years  later,  I  quoted  from  in 
my  last  number.  Born  in  England,  and  "brought  to  this  coun 
try  when  a  child,  and  left  an  orphan  in  Philadelphia,"  this  boy 
of  genius,  this  handsome,  whole-hearted  man,  this  statesman  in 
the  Senate  and  hero  in  the  field,  had  no  idea,  at  that  early  day, 
when  he  fought  Douglas  in  the  House,  that  they  two  would 
harmonize  in  love  of  country  at  last,  and  that  they  would  go  to 
meet  their  father-God  in  the  same  year,  and  only  a  few  months 
apart.  How  bitter  these  Whigs  and  Democrats  were !  How 
angry  they  got  themselves,  and  how  angry  they  made  their  re 
spective  friends  !  And  yet  at  the  end  of  less  than  a  generation 
we  find  Douglas  and  Baker,  intense  party  foes  in  the  year  1846, 
lying  down  together  almost  in  the  same  grave,  at  nearly  the 
same  time,  martyrs  alike  to  the  same  holy  cause,  in  the  year 
1 86 1.  They  were  strangely  alike  in  many  things.  They  were 

C 


ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


familiar  to  a  degree.  Their  tastes  were  similar.  They  loved 
their  friends  without  hating  their  foes.  Neither  believed  in  the 
philosophy  of  revenge.  They  thought  they  did  sometimes  in 
their  impulses,  but  when  the  passion  passed  off  they  forgave 
like  gods.  Mean  men  only  live  in  the  darkness  of  malice.  It 
is  the  great  soul  alone  that  outlives  in  history  and  memory  the 
mean  soul,  unless  the  latter  is  so  infamous  as  to  stand  as 
a  beacon  and  a  warning.  Of  this  school  were  Baker  and 
Douglas.  But  to  my  story. 

I  sat  in  the  gallery  of  the  old  House,  now  the  glorious  recep 
tacle  which  I  hope  decent  courage  in  our  public  men  will  secure 
from  the  profanation  of  being  a  sepulchre  for  every  dead-beat 
in  the  way  of  art,  where  Stephen  A.  Douglas  made  his  magnifi 
cent  speech  in  favor  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  in  reply  to 
ex-President  Adams.  I  shall  never  forget  that  sweet  and  odor 
ous  i3th  of  May,  1846.  Nowhere,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  there 
an  atmosphere  like  Washington  in  May  and  June.  Nature  . 
seems  to  revel  in  the  supreme  luxury  of  her  own  charms.  That 
spot,  without  snow  in  winter,  prolonging  its  equal  reign  far  into 
the  summer,  and  resuming  its  neutral  sway  early  in  September, 
seems  to  have  been  chosen  as  the  "golden  mean"  alike  of  pol 
itics  and  climate.  I  had  come  from  my  little  country-city  to 
hear  and  to  see,  and  I  was  gratified. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Texas  is  now  the  fertile  outpost  of 
an  athletic  civilization,  and  of  the  other  fact  that  if  we  had  not 
conquered  her  from  Mexico,  she  would  be  to-day  a  sort  of  mid 
dle  ground,  compounded  of  guerillas  and  knights  of  the  free 
lance,  the  friends  of  annexation  may  claim  a  sort  of  poetical 
vindication.  Mexico  is  still  a  most  vexatious  problem.  What 
would  Texas  be  if  left  to  the  mercy  of  Mexico,  or  to  the  manip 
ulations  of  foreign  powers?  In  this  light  the  annexation  of 
1846,  consummated  by  the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe-  Hidalgo  in 
1848,  was  a  measure  of  consummate  foresight. 

I  shall  never  forget  how  eagerly  John  Quincy  Adams  listened 


ADAMS   AND   DOUGLAS.  51 

to  the  young  member  from  Illinois,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  as  he 
was  speaking  on  the  i3th  of  May,  1846.  Mr.  Delano,  of  Ohio, 
now  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  had  made  a  decided  argument 
against  annexation,  which  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  vener 
able  ex-President. 

Mr.  Douglas  said,  with  the  courtesy  which  distinguished  him, 
looking  at  Mr.  Adams :  "  I  perceive  the  venerable  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts,  before  me  now,  nods  approval  of  the  senti 
ment."  [The  sentiment  of  Mr.  Delano.] 

MR.  ADAMS.  "  Yes,  sir.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  approve  and  indorse 
every  word  and  syllable  of  it." 

Thus  encouraged,  the  wily  young  Illinois  orator  proceeded 
in  his  well-considered  speech.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the 
great  point  in  issue  in  1846,  so  far  as  Texas  was  concerned,  was 
the  boundary  between  Texas  and  Mexico.  Mr.  Delano,  with 
masterly  ability,  had  denied  that  the  Rio  del  Norte  was  the 
western  boundary,  and  Mr.  Adams  had  accepted  the  version  of 
Mr.  Delano.  I  can  never  forget  the  following  colloquy : 

MR.  DOUGLAS.  "  Mr.  Chairman,  I  believe  I  have  now  said  all 
that  I  intended  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  the  Rio  del 
Norte  was  the  western  boundary  of  the  republic  of  Texas.  How 
far  I  have  succeeded  in  establishing  the  position  I  leave  to  the 
House  and  the  country  to  determine.  If  that  was  the  bound 
ary  of  the  republic  of  Texas,  it  has,  of  course,  become  the  bound 
ary  of  the  United  States  by  virtue  of  the  act  of  annexation  and 
admission  into  the  Union.  I  will  not  say  that  I  have  demon 
strated  the  question  as  satisfactorily  as  the  distinguished  gen 
tleman  from  Massachusetts  did  in  1819,  but  I  will  say  that  I 
think  I  am  safe  in  adopting  the  sentiment  which  he  then  ex 
pressed,  that  our  title  to  the  Rio  del  Norte  is  as  clear  as  to  the 
island  of  New  Orleans." 

MR.  ADAMS.  "  I  never  said  that  our  title  was  good  to  the  Rio 
del  Norte  from  its  mouth  to  its  source." 

MR.  DOUGLAS.  "  I  know  nothing  of  the  gentleman's  mental 


c;  2  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

reservations.  If  he  means,  by  his  denial,  to  place  the  whole 
emphasis  on  the  qualification  that  he  did  not  claim  that  river 
as  the  boundary  'from  its  mouth  to  its  source,'  I  shall  not  dis 
pute  with  him  on  that  point.  But  if  he  wishes  to  be  understood 
as  denying  that  he  ever  claimed  the  Rio  del  Norte,  in  general 
terms,  as  our  boundary  under  the  Louisiana  treaty,  I  can  fur 
nish  him  an  official  document,  over  his  own  signature,  which  he 
will  find  very  embarrassing  and  exceedingly  difficult  to  explain. 
I  allude  to  his  famous  dispatch  as  Secretary  of  State,  in  1819, 
to  Don  Onis,  the  Spanish  minister.  I  am  not  certain  that  I  can 
prove  his  handwriting,  for  the  copy  I  have  in  my  possession  I 
find  printed  in  the  American  State  Papers,  published  by  the 
order  of  Congress.  In  that  paper  he  not  only  claimed  the  Rio 
del  Norte  as  our  boundary,  but  he  demonstrated  the  validity 
of  the  claim  by  a  train  of  facts  and  arguments  which  rivet  con 
viction  on  every  impartial  mind,  and  deny  refutation." 

MR.  ADAMS.  "I  wrote  that  dispatch  as  Secretary  of  State, 
and  endeavored  to  make  out  the  best  case  I  could  for  my  own 
country,  as  it  was  my  duty.  But  I  utterly  deny  that  I  claimed 
the  Rio  del  Norte  as  our  boundary  in  its  full  extent.  I  only 
claimed  it  a  short  distance  up  the  river,  and  then  diverged  to 
the  northward  some  distance  from  the  stream." 

MR.  DOUGLAS.  "  Will  the  gentleman  specify  the  point  at  w,hich 
his  line  left  the  river  ?" 

MR.  ADAMS.  "  I  never  designated  the  point." 
MR.  DOUGLAS.  "  Was  it  above  Matamoras  ?" 
MR.  ADAMS.  "  I  never  specified  any  particular  place." 
The  old  man  had  evidently  forgotten  the  dispatch  he  wrote 
as  Secretary  of  State  in  1819— twenty-seven  years  before — and 
the  young  man  had  had  it  recalled  to  his  attention.     It  was  a 
bombshell.     It  was  a  new  thing  to  see  John  Quincy  Adams 
retreating  before  anybody.     He  seemed  to  feel  as  if  he  had 
fallen  into  a  trap.    His  solicitude  to  hear  Douglas  was  perhaps 
a  sort  of  explanation  of  his  course.     The  House  was  divided 


CHANGES    OF   OPINION.  53 

between  admiration  for  the  new  actor  on  the  great  stage  of  na 
tional  affairs  and  reverence  for  the  retiring  chief.  I  recollect 
my  own  feelings  as  I  sat  in  the  gallery  and  witnessed  this  con 
flict. 

Douglas  was  a  Vermonter  •  Adams  was  a  Massachusetts 
man.  Perhaps  the  idea  that  controlled  their  common  star  was 
the  New  England  idea,  which  has  done  so  much  and  dared  so 
much  in  human  civilization  and  redemption.  It  is  curious  to 
note  the  influence  of  this  idea  upon  all  our  future.  It  has  never 
failed  to  vindicate  itself.  John  Adams  proclaimed  it,  but  he 
did  not  plant  it.  John  Quincy  Adams  tenderly  nourished  it. 
If  the  grandson  of  the  one,  and  the  son  of  the  other,  and  the 
sons  of  the  last,  choose  to  neglect  it,  the  followers  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  will  not  allow  it  to  die  for  want  of  culture  and  care. 

[February  19, 1871.] 


XI. 

NOTHING  is  more  remarkable  in  history  than  the  fact  that 
States  and  statesmen  often  undergo  entire  revulsions  of  politic 
al  sentiment  and  conviction.  To  doubt  the  sincerity  of  these 
changes  is  to  question  the  justice  of  every  sort  of  conversion. 
Slavery  has  been  the  most  potent  element ;  but  other  causes 
have  been  effective.  The  free-trade  speech  of  Daniel  Webster 
in  1824,  able  as  it  was,  was  not  a  particle  more  conscientious 
than  his  protection  argument  in  Philadelphia  twenty-two  years 
later.  The  leading  Federalist  in  Lancaster  County  from  1814 
to  1827  was  the  same  James  Buchanan  who,  in  a  few  years 
after,  became  the  admitted  Democratic  chief  of  Pennsylvania. 
Henry  Clay's  early  Democracy  did  not  prevent  him  from  be 
coming  the  defiant  enemy  of  that  party  after  Andrew  Jackson 
took  command  of  it.  Calhoun  became  a  free-trader  after  hav- 


54  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

ing  made  some  of  the  strongest  arguments  for  protection,  thus 
exactly  changing  places  with  Daniel  Webster.    When,  however, 
slavery  began  to  dominate  the  field,  we  had  a  succession  of 
astonishing  transformations.     States  wheeled  out  of  one  party 
into  another  with  magical  celerity.     Democratic  fortresses  like 
Maine,  New   Hampshire,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  and  Ohio,  which  had  stood  by  the  Democracy  in  every 
trial,  and  had  routed  the  Whigs  in  repeated  campaigns,  joined 
the  Republican  column,  while  veteran  Democrats  like  Hamlin 
of  Maine,  Trumbull  of  Illinois,  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania,  D.  K. 
Cartter  of  Ohio,  Preston  King  and  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  of  New 
York,  Morton  of  Indiana,  ranged  themselves  on  the  same  side, 
not  as  privates,  but  as  general  officers,  each  with  an  army  at 
his  back.     There  was  little  compensation  for  these  losses.     It 
is  true  the  South  consolidated  to  save  the  peculiar  institution, 
but  little  was  gained  by  the  halting  support  of  such  formerly 
intense  Whig  States  as  Maryland  and  Kentucky.     They  could 
not  so  readily  forget  their  devotion  to  Clay  and  their  hatred  of 
Jackson.    The  sectionalism  born  of  slavery  also  gave  rise  to  war, 
and  then  came  some  of  the  strangest  of  revolutions.    Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Democrats  became  Republicans  when  they  saw 
the  treatment  that  Reeder  and  Douglas,  and  their  compatriots, 
had  received ;  but  the  oddest  sight  was  to  see  hosts  of  "  Old- 
line  Whigs,"  who  had  been  denouncing  slavery  all  their  lives, 
joining  the  Democrats !     Hon.  James  Brooks,  of  New  York, 
and  Hon.  Josiah  Randall,  of  Philadelphia,  were  the  pioneers  in 
this  singular  diversion ;  and  they  were  followed  by  quite  a  pro 
cession  of  men  of  the  same  school  when  hostilities  commenced. 
There  is  now  hardly  a  considerable  town  in  the  United  States 
in  which  some  "  Old-line  Whig  "  is  not  among  the  Democratic 
leaders.      Most  notable  of  these  are  the  grandsons  of  John 
Quincy  Adams.     The  living  junior  of  that  name  is  an  accepted 
authority,  and  one  of  his  brothers  is  said  to  be  among  the  best 
of  the  numerous  writers  for  the  New  York  World,  whose  edito- 


WILLIAM    B.  REED.  55 

rial  columns  are  frequently  enriched  by  contributions  from  the 
finished  and  fertile  pen  of  William  B.  Reed,  for  a  long  time  the 
most  brilliant  and  effective  of  the  antagonists  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Reed  was  an  earnest  advocate  of 
Mr.  Buchanan  for  the  Presidency  in  1856.  He  did  much  for 
his  election.  He  was  eminently  loyal  to  his  new  friend ;  and 
when  he  was  sent  forth  on  the  Chinese  mission,  he  was  true  to 
that  friend,  and  entered  heartily  into  the  extreme  views  of  those 
who  sympathized  with  the  rebellion.  Let  us  not  forget  that  his 
very  intensity  in  that  strife  was  only  a  copy  of  his  intensity  on 
the  other  side,  and  that  his  course  in  both  experiences  is  per 
haps  the  very  best  proof  of  his  sincerity.  As  I  read  his  articles 
in  The  World,  so  caustic  and  courteous,  I  have  but  one  regret, 
and  that  is  that  they  are  not  in  logical  accord  with  his  old  anti- 
slavery  record.  Nobody  in  Philadelphia  who  knows  W.  B. 
Reed,  whatever  his  present  feelings,  will  deny  that  if  he  had 
followed  this  record  he  would  have  been  among  the  dictators 
of  the  Republican  party.  As  I  study  men  like  Mr.  Reed,  and 
notice  that  Hon.  Isaac  E.  Hiester,  the  Whig  son  of  a  Federal 
father,  in  the  county  of  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania — both  having 
served  that  great  district  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  both  chosen  by  the  anti-Democratic  vote,  and  the  son  dy 
ing  a  few  weeks  ago  one  of  the  captains  of  the  Democracy — I 
feel  that  I  have  no  right  to  question  motives.  Hiester  Clymer, 
who  ran  for  Governor  against  John  W.  Geary,  of  the  same  State, 
in  1866,  is  another  instance.  Perhaps  the  most  thoughtful 
member  of  the  Philadelphia  bar  was  the  late  George  M.  Whar- 
ton,  an  "  Old-line  Whig,"  and  yet  his  last  hours  were  filled  with 
sympathy  with  the  Democratic  party. 

It  is  difficult,  and  often  disreputable,  to  divine  the  motives 
of  men  who  change  religions  or  politics.  Yet  it  is  interesting 
to  know  how  they  excuse  themselves.  Consistency  is  often  a 
species  of  moral  cowardice.  Many  shelter  themselves  under 
this  shadow,  and  lie  through  a  life-time,  publicly  indorsing  an 


56  ANECDOTES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

idea  they  hate  in  their  hearts.  The  brave  spirits  are  those  who 
welcome  the  truth  as  they  see  it,  and  fight  it  out.  The  fool 
often  lives  and  dies  in  his  own  errors.  The  wise  man  investi 
gates  and  rejects  them.  As  none  are  perfect  in  life,  so  all 
should  aspire  to  be  perfect  in  the  Christian  virtue  of  toleration. 

[March  26, 1871.] 


XII. 

LISTENING  to  Mr.  Dougherty's  brilliant  lecture,  at  the  Phila 
delphia  Academy  of  Music,  on  the  evening  of  March  13,  mem 
ory  carried  me  back  many  years.  He  was  right  when  he  said 
that  the  days  of  oratory  were  over,  and  that  the  men  fittest  for 
declamation  generally  prefer  the  plainest  and  most  practical 
way  of  expressing  their  sentiments.  I  am  disposed  to  think 
the  change  for  the  better,  inasmuch  as  the  most  thoughtful  men 
are  not  always  the  best  speakers,  and  the  best  speakers  are  not 
always  the  most  thoughtful  men.  A  calm,  conversational  style 
necessitates  logic  or  an  attempt  in  that  direction,  and  leaves 
reason  a  clearer,  because  less  exciting,  field  to  combat  with 
error.  High  art  seems  to  have  given  way  to  exact  science. 
Words  weigh  little.  Adjectives  are  accepted  as  confessions  of 
weakness.  Fact  so  rules  the  world  that  even  the  novelist  can 
not  be  successful  unless  he  weaves  the  very  best  likeness  of  it 
into  his  fictions.  A  great  and  wise  man  said  to  me  lately,  after 
reading  one  of  Charles  Reade's  wonderful  creations,  "This 
book  reminds  me  keenly  of  the  singular  adage,  that  many  a 
romance  is  history  without  the  proper  names,  just  as  many  a 
history  is  romance  with  the  proper  names." 

How  well  I  remember  some  of  the  orators  of  other  days — 
the  men  of  the  generation  succeeding  Andrew  Jackson  !  The 
South  always  predominated  in  fascinating  and  plausible  rhet- 


ORATORS   OF   THE   SOUTH.  57 

oric.  Winter  Davis,  of  Maryland,  was  at  once  a  logician  and 
a  declaimer.  His  sharp  tenor  voice,  his  incisive  sentences  and 
ready  wit,  his  fine  figure,  were  admirably  re-enforced  by  acute 
reasoning  powers  and  admirable  legal  training.  A  rare  speci 
men  of  the  same  qualities  was  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  of  Louisi 
ana,  now  a  practitioner  in  the  various  lav/ -courts  in  London. 
His  handsome  Jewish  face,  his  liquid  tones,  and  easy  enuncia 
tion,  contrasted  well  with  his  skill  as  a  debater  and  his  accuracy 
as  a  student.  Pierre  Soule,  a  Senator  from  the  same  State,  was 
a  different,  yet  as  peculiar  a  type.  His  swarthy  complexion, 
black,  flashing  eyes,  and  Frenchified  dress  and  speech,  made 
him  one  of  the  attractions  of  the  Senate.  He  is  now  in  his 
grave,  after  a  strangely  eventful  and  novel  career.  He  was  an 
artificial  man — brilliant  in  repartee,  yet  subject  to  fits  of  mel 
ancholy  ;  impetuous,  yet  reserved ;  proud,  but  polite— in  one 
word,  such  a  contradiction  as  Victor  Hugo,  with  a  vast  fund  of 
knowledge,  and  a  deposit  of  vanity  which  was  never  exhausted. 
He  was  a  ready-made  Secessionist  when  the  rebellion  came, 
and  yet  his  light  shone  feebly  in  that  dark  conspiracy.  Virginia 
always  had  a  supply  of  good  speakers.  Thomas  H.  Bayley, 
with  his  gold  spectacles  and  ambrosial  locks,  and  his  Southern 
idiom,  a  compound  of  the  negro  and  the  scholar ;  Charles 
James  Faulkner,  with  his  pleasant  smile,  dandy  dress,  and 
flowing  phrases ;  James  M.  Mason,  with  his  Dombey  diction 
and  pompous  pretense ;  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  with  his  quiet  and 
careful  conservatism  ;  Roger  A.  Pryor,  with  his  impetuous  and 
dazzling  temperament  —  these  were  all  first-class  speakers, 
though  as  distinct  as  their  own  faces.  The  noisiest  man  in 
the  immediate  ante-war  Congress  was  George  S.  Houston,  of 
Alabama ;  the  most  quarrelsome  was  Keitt,  of  South  Carolina ; 
the  best-tempered,  Orr,  of  the  same  State  ;  the  most  acrid, 
George  W.  Jones,  of  Tennessee ;  the  jolliest,  Senator  Jere  Clem 
ens,  of  Alabama;  the  most  supercilious,  Senator  Slidell,  of 
Louisiana;  the  most  genial,  Senator  Anthony  Kennedy,  of 

C2 


58  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Maryland ;  and  the  boldest  and  coarsest,  Wigfall,  of  Texas. 
Breckinridge  was,  in  many  respects,  a  true  orator,  and  seemed 
to  copy  much  from  Clay  and  Crittenden.  Jefferson  Davis  was 
always  a  capital  dialectician,  not  strong  in  argument,  but  always 
stern  in  convictions.  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  had  a  good 
presence  and  a  persuasive  tone,  but  was  not  a  great  man. 
Toombs,  of  Georgia,' was  the  stormy  petrel,  often  grand  as  a 
declaimer,  and  always  intolerant,  dogmatic,  and  extreme.  He 
was  as  violent  in  1850,  when  he  was  a  Unionist,  as  he  was  in 
1860,  when  he  became  a  Secessionist. 

Two  scenes  are  deeply  imprinted  on  my  memory.  They  ex 
hibit  the  two  schools  of  oratory,  West  and  South.  One  was  the 
remarkable  appeal  of  Hon.  James  McDowell,  of  Virginia,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  on  the  3d  of  September,  1850.  That 
was  the  initiative  period— the  porch,  so  to  speak,  which  intro 
duced  us  to  the  arena  of  civil  war ;  and  McDowell,  like  other 
patriots,  stood  upon  its  steps  and  predicted  the  dark  future  if 
we  did  not  harmonize.  He  was  then  in  his  fifty-fifth  year,  not 
in  good  health,  but  full  of  genuine  love  of  liberty.  He  had  won 
high  honors  as  a  popular  speaker  in  Virginia.  Born  in  that 
State,  and  educated  at  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  he  was 
profoundly  attached  to  the  Union.  He  was  filled  with  appre 
hensions  of  dismemberment  in  1850.  The  extremists  demand 
ed  that  California  should  not  be  admitted  as  a  free  State  with 
out  an  equivalent  in  the  extension  of  slave  territory— an  exac 
tion  indignantly  resisted  by  the  North.  The  agitation  was  in 
tense —  the  peril  imminent.  At  this  moment  Mr.  McDowell 
rose  to  address  the  House.  His  tall  form,  graceful  gestures, 
and  commanding  voice  revived  the  expectations  created  by  his 
fame  as  a  Virginia  orator,  and  his  sustained  and  splendid  ap 
peal  confirmed  them.  When  he  proclaimed  these  noble  words 
the  House  broke  forth  into  involuntary  applause,  which  could 
not  be  restrained  by  Speaker  Cobb  : 

"  From  the  empire  of  Nebuchadnezzar  to  that  of  Napoleon, 


JAMES  MCDOWELL,  OF  VIRGINIA.  59 

how  immense  the  distance,  how  stupendous  the  revolutions  that 
have  intervened,  how  intense  the  fiery  contests  which  have 
burned  over  continents  and  ages,  changing  their  theatre  and 
their  instruments,  and  leaving  upon  the  whole  surface  of  the 
globe  scarce  a  spot  unstained  by  their  desolating  and  bloody 
track ;  and  yet  no  national  offspring  has  sprung  from  them  all 
so  fitted  as  our  own  United  America  to*  redeem  for  the  world 
the  agonies  they  have  cost  it.     Whatever,  in  that  long  period, 
other  nations  may  have  risen  up  to  be,  and  however  truly  and 
illustriously  a  few  of  them  may  have  prolonged  their  day  and 
advanced  the  civilization  and  the  wisdom  of  themselves  and 
the  world,  still  none  of  them  has  ever  embodied  such  an  aggre 
gate  of  rational  happiness  or  political  truth  as  our  own  Repub 
lic,  and  none  like  it  has  ever  fulfilled  the  ultimate  problem  of 
all  government,  that,  namely,  of  making  the  utmost  freedom  of 
the  citizen  and  the  utmost  power  of  the  State  the  co-existing 
and  the  upholding  conditions  of  one  another.     With  a  freedom 
only  inferior  to  that  of  Rome  in  the  worst  qualities  of  hers, 
those   of  aggression    and  conquest,  and  superior  to   that  of 
Greece  in  its  best,  those  of  civilization  and  defense  ;  with  noth 
ing  but  this  freedom,  its  story  and  its  triumphs,  our  Republic  has 
become  confederate  alike  with  the  liberty  sentiment  of  the 
world  and  with  the  majestic  power  of  human  sympathy  to  prop 
agate  itself,  and  hence  its  flag  is  destined  to  wave  not  only  over 
an  empire  of  illimitable  means  but  over  the  illimitable  empires 
of  re-born  and  self-governing  man.     And  now  that  this  Repub 
lic  of  freedom,  happiness,  and  power  is  a  heritage  of  ours,  who 
that  has  shared,  as  we  have  done,  in  the  countless  blessings 
that  belong  to  it— who  that  knows  it,  as  we  do,  to  be  the  herit 
age  of  every  good  which  human  nature  can  enjoy  or  human 
government  secure — who,  so  situated,  could  make  it  or  could 
see  it  the  sport  of  violent,  selfish,  or  parricidal  passions  ?    Who 
of  us,  without  putting  forth  every  faculty  of  soul  and  body  to 
prevent  it,  would  see  it  go  down,  down  under  some  monstrous 


60  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

struggle  of  brother  with  brother,  an  external  crush  upon  our 
selves,  an  external  example  for  the  shuddering,  the  admonition, 
the  horror,  and  the  curse  of  universal  man  ?  There  have  been 
those  who,  impelled  only  by  their  own  noble  and  generous  nat 
ure,  have  rushed  forward  on  the  field  of  battle  and  given  their 
own  bosom  to  the  blow  of  death,  that  thereby  some  loved  com 
rade  or  commander  might  be  spared,  or  some  patriotic  purpose 
vindicated  and  secured ;  there  have  been  those  who  have  gone 
into  the  dungeons  of  misfortune  and  of  guilt,  and  worn  out  the 
days  and  years  of  their  own  lives  that  they  might  alleviate  the 
disease  or  the  despair  of  their  wretched  inmates,  and,  at  least, 
kindle  up  for  another  world  the  aspirations  and  hopes  which 
were  extinguished  for  this.  And  there  have  been  others,  too, 
who  have  companioned  with  the  pestilence,  and  have  walked, 
day  by  day,  in  its  silent  and  horrid  footsteps,  that  they  might 
learn  in  what  way  to  encounter  its  power,  and  so  be  enabled, 
reverently,  to  lift  up  from  crushed  and  anguished  communities 
the  too  heavy  pressing  of  the  hand  of  the  Almighty.  And  are 
we,  who  hold  the  sublimest  political  trust  ever  committed  to  the 
hands  of  any  other  people — -are  we  alone  to  be  incapable  of  any 
and  every  dedication  of  ourselves  which  that  trust  requires  ? 
Can  we  stand  calmly,  helplessly,  and  faithlessly  by,  and  allow 
it  to  be  wrecked  and  lost  ? 

"  In  this  hour  of  danger — this  eventful  hour  of  the  age — this 
hour  which  is  all  in  all  to  us  and  to  millions  besides,  those  op 
pressed  millions  of  other  lands  who  are  ruled  by  irresponsible 
power,  and  who,  as  they  lie  upon  the  earth,  overwhelmed  and 
crushed  by  the  weight  of  altars  or  of  thrones,  still  look  to  us  for 
hope,  and  pour  out  their  hearts  in  sobbings  and  in  prayer  to 
Heaven  that  ours  may  be  the  radiant  and  the  steady  light  which 
shall  never  bewilder  or  betray ;  in  this  hour,  so  full  of  interest, 
our  mother  country  comes  into  our  very  midst,  and  taking  each 
by  the  hand,  says  to  each:  'Son,  give  me,  give  me  thy  heart.' 
And  will  we  not,  can  we  not  do  it  ?  Can  we  not  give  it  freely, 


OWEN    LOVEJOY.  6 1 

proudly  give  it  all  ?  keeping  no  part  of  it  back  for  any  end  or 
any  passion  of  our  own,  though  dear,  it  may  be,  as  a  right  eye 
or  a  right  arm.  If  any  of  us  can  not — if  there  is  any  lingering, 
denying,  clinging  feeling  which  the  heart  will  not  or  can  not  de 
liver  over  at  such  a  moment,  let  us  tear  that  heart  from  our  bo 
som  if  we  can,  and  lift  up  our  supplications  to  the  Father  above 
that  he  would  send  us  another  in  its  place,  better  fitted  for  the 
sight  of  Heaven  and  for  the  service  and  fellowship  of  man. 

"  Give  us  in  our  duties  here  but  something  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Roman  father,  who  delivered  up  his  son  to  the  axe  of  jus 
tice  because  he  loved  his  country  better  than  his  blood,  or  that 
of  the  gallant  young  officer  of  the  Revolution,  who  was  detected 
and  executed  while  performing  under  the  orders  of  his  immor 
tal  chief  the  service  of  a  spy.  [Lieutenant  Hale.]  When  led 
to  the  spot  of  execution,  as  he  stood  upon  it  and  looked  forth, 
for  the  last  time,  upon  the  smile  of  day,  and  upon  the  bright  and 
benignant  sun  of  Heaven  as  it  beamed  upon  him,  and  felt  the 
agony  that  all — all  was  gone,  his  young  and  hopeful  and  joyous 
nature  involuntarily  shrank,  and  he  is  said  to  have  cried  out 
with  impassioned  exclamations  :  '  Oh,  it  is  a  bitter,  bitter  thing 
to  die,  and  how  Utter,  too,  to  know  that  I  have  but  one  life 
which  I  can  give  to  my  country!'  Give  us  only  this  spirit  for 
our  work  here ;  doubt  not  but  that  it  will  be  approved  of  by  our 
land,  and  be  crowned  with  a  long  futurity  of  thankfulness  and 
rejoicing." 

The  other  scene  was  when,  some  ten  years  later,  Owen  Love- 
joy,  of  Illinois,  startled  the  House  by  one  of  those  terrific  ex 
plosions  of  eloquence  so  uncommon  in  these  now  formal  times. 
It  will  be  recollected  that  his  brother  had  been  killed  by  a  pro- 
slavery  mob  at  Alton,  Illinois,  some  years  before,  simply  for 
publishing  an  anti-slavery  paper.  He  made  this  the  text  of  his 
argument,  and  never  was  there  a  more  thrilling  or  effective  one. 
He  was  much  affected,  and  his  emotions  affected  others  on  both 
sides  of  the  House.  I  regret  I  can  not  fix  the  exact  date  of 


62  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

this  memorable  display,  to  complete  the  parallel  with  the  Vir 
ginia  statesman  and  patriot. 

They  were  eminently  representative  men.  As  orators  they 
were  most  dissimilar.  McDowell  was  tall  and  dignified  ;  Love- 
joy  short,  quick,  and  impetuous.  McDowell's  complexion  was 
light ;  Lovejoy's  dark  as  a  Spaniard's,  save  in  moments  of  ex 
citement,  when  it  fairly  glowed.  Had  McDowell  lived  during 
the  war  he  would  undoubtedly  have  been  a  Secessionist,  like  all 
of  his  school ;  but  his  words  are  not  less  applicable  to-day  than 
they  were  in  1850.  Lovejoy  lived  to  see  three  years  of  war, 
and  to  enjoy  the  abolition  of  slavery,  for  which  he  had  prayed 
and  toiled.  He  preceded  his  friend,  Abraham  Lincoln,  a  little 
more  than  a  twelvemonth.  I  knew  him  well.  He  was  as  gen 
erous  as  he  was  brave ;  as  gentle  as  he  was  sincere.  A  de 
voted  friend,  a  chivalric  foe,  he  has  left  a  record  honorable  to 
himself,  his  posterity,  and  his  country. 

McDowell  died  in  August  of  1851,  in  less  than  a  year  after 
his  noble  speech  from  which  I  quote,  aged  fifty-five.  Lovejoy 
died  March  25,  1864,  aged  fifty-three.  They  should  have  lived 
longer,  but  they  lived  long  enough  to  leave  thousands  to  mourn 
their  loss  and  to  revere  their  memory. 

[March  2,  1871.] 


XIII. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN  had,  like  most  men,  a  few  favorite  anec 
dotes,  which  he  was  sure  to  reproduce  to  every  new  visitor  who 
ate  his  excellent  dinners  and  drank  his  nutty  old  Madeira. 
One  of  these  related  to  President  Jackson.  It  was  a  custom 
of  Mr.  Buchanan's  enemies  to  say  that  he  never  had  the  entire 
confidence  of  Old  Hickory.  Certain  it  is  he  never  had  the  sup 
port  of  Amos  Kendall,  Francis  P.  Blair,  or  Andrew  J.  Donel- 


PENNSYLVANIAN   POLITICIANS.  63 

son,  Jackson's  immediate  friends,  or  Kitchen  Cabinet;  yet  not 
less  true  is  it  that,  when  James  K.  Polk  was  chosen  President 
in  1844,  the  venerable  Jackson,  then  at  the  Hermitage,  near 
Nashville,  wrote  a  strong  letter  to  his  friend  and  neighbor,  the 
new  Chief  Magistrate,  recommending  Mr.  Buchanan  for  Secre 
tary  of  State.     George  M.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  chosen 
Vice -President  on  the  same  ticket  with  Mr.  Polk.     He,  lifce 
Buchanan,  was  a  standing  candidate  for  the  first  office  in  the 
nation,  and  it  may  well  be  conceived  that  there  was  no  love 
lost  between  the  rivals  and  their  friends.    What  reader  of  these 
sketches  who  lives  in  Pennsylvania  does  not  remember  those 
days  ?    Colonel  James  Page,  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster,  George 
W.  Barton,  Horn  R.  Kneass,  Henry  M.  Phillips,  Henry  Simp 
son,  William  Badger,  Ellis  B.  Schnable,  and  last,  not  least,  Hen 
ry  Horn,  were  among  the  leaders  who  fought  under  the  re 
spective  banners  of  Dallas  and  Buchanan.     The  city  of  Phila 
delphia  was  the  theatre  of  their  bitter  contests  for  many  years. 
But  the  great  field  of  strife  was  Harrisburg.     Simon  Cameron, 
of  Dauphin;  Reah  Frazer  and  Benjamin  Champneys,  of  Lan 
caster  ;  Arnold  Plumer,  of  Venango  ;  Wilson  McCandless,  H. 
S.  Magraw,  and  S.  W.  Black,  of  Alleghany;  Henry  D.  Foster, 
of  Westmoreland;  Henry  Welsh,  of  York ;  Morrow  B.  Lowry, 
of  Erie;  John  Hickman  and  Wilmer  Worthington,  of  Chester; 
John  B.  Sterigere,  of  Montgomery;  Richard  Brodhead  and  A. 
H.  Reeder,  of  Northampton;  C.  L.  Ward,  David  Wilmot,  and 
Victor  E.  Piollet,  of  Bradford;  W.  F.  Packer,  of  Lycoming;  Asa 
Packer,  of  Carbon — these  and  a  host  more,  many  since  dead, 
stood  forth  to  fight  for  these  two  men  in  the  Democratic  State 
Conventions  with  a  devotion  not  usual  in  these  more  selfish 
times.    The  election  of  Dallas  was  a  hard  blow  at  our  Buchan, 
an  side  of  the  house;  but  J.  B.  was  not  easily  baffled;  and  so, 
when  we  got  Old  Hickory  to  indorse  him  for  Secretary  of  State, 
we  felt  that  we  had  checkmated  the  Philadelphia  favorite.    And 
we  were  right,  for  no  Vice-President  was  ever  more  ignored 


64  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

than  George  M.  Dallas — not  even  John  C.  Breckinridge,  who 
fell  under  the  suspicion  of  President  Buchanan  the  moment  he 
was  nominated,  and  never  fully  recovered  from  it.  Notwith 
standing  this,  James  Buchanan  retained  George  M.  Dallas  as 
minister  to  England  all  through  his  rule,  and  thereby  proved 
that  if  he  could  forget  a  friend  he  could  also  forgive  a  foe. 

vBut  to  my  anecdote.  I  heard  Mr.  Buchanan  repeat  it  the 
last  time  at  the  Sunday  dinner-table  of  John  T.  Sullivan,  of 
Washington,  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  genial  of  men, 
known  and  beloved  alike  at  the  nation's  capital  and  in  Phila 
delphia.  He  was  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school — a  Jackson 
Democrat ;  was  a  Government  director  in  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  with  Peter  Wager  and  Henry  D.  Gilpin ;  and  yet 
he  was  so  cosmopolitan  and  catholic  that  every  man  of  distinc 
tion  was  glad  to  receive  and  prompt  to  accept  his  invitations. 
Clay,  Webster,  Calhoun,  Crittenden,  Clayton,  Silas  Wright,  Doc 
tor  Linn,  Colonel  Benton,  Sam  Houston,  William  C.  Rives, 
Charles  Jared  Ingersoll,  Edward  Everett,  Rufus  Choate,  fre 
quently  discussed  public  affairs  over  his  roast  beef,  baked  po 
tatoes,  and  iced  wines.  I  was  a  boy  when  first  asked  into  this 
select  circle,  with  its  feast  of  reason  and  its  flow  of  soul — its  gen 
erous  inaugural  of  soup,  re-enforced  by  good  wines,  and  supple 
mented,  after  dinner,  by  unforgotten  punch,  brewed  by  the  hand 
of  the  good  old  man  now  in  his  grave.  At  one  of  these  din 
ners  I  heard  Old  Buck  repeat  his  story  of  General  Jackson, 
probably  for  the  hundredth  time. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Buchanan's  return  from  Russia  in  1834,  to 
which  he  had  been  sent  by  President  Jackson  in  1832,  and  im 
mediately  following  his  election  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  to  fill  the  unexpired 
term  of  William  Wilkins,  resigned,  who,  in  his  turn,  was  sent  to 
succeed  Buchanan  in  the  same  foreign  mission,  Buchanan  called 
upon  Old  Hickory  with  a  fair  English  lady,  whom  he  desired  to 
present  to  the  head  of  the  American  nation.  Leaving  her  in  the 


ANDREW   JACKSON.  65 

reception-room  down  stairs,  he  ascended  to  the  President's  pri 
vate  quarters  and  found  General  Jackson  unshaved,  unkempt, 
in  his  dressing-gown,  with  his  slippered  feet  on  the  fender  be 
fore  a  blazing  wood  fire,  smoking  a  corn-cob  pipe  of  the  old 
Southern  school.  He  stated  his  object,  when  the  General  said 
he  would  be  very  glad  to  meet  the  handsome  acquaintance  of 
the  new  bachelor  Senator.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  always  careful 
of  his  personal  appearance,  and,  in  some  respects,  was  a  sort 
of  masculine  Miss  Fribble,  addicted  to  spotless  cravats  and 
huge  collars ;  rather  proud  of  a  small  foot  for  a  man  of  his 
large  stature,  and  to  the  last  of  his  life  what  the  ladies  would 
call  "a  very  good  figure."  Having  just  returned  from  a  visit 
to  the  fashionable  continental  circles,  after  two  years  of  thor 
ough  intercourse  with  the  etiquette  of  one  of  the  stateliest  courts 
in  Europe,  he  was  somewhat  shocked  at  the  idea  of  the  Presi 
dent  meeting  the  eminent  English  lady  in  such  a  guise,  and 
ventured  to  ask  if  he  did  not  intend  to  change  his  attire,  where 
upon  the  old  warrior  rose,  with  his  long  pipe  in  his  hand,  and, 
deliberately  knocking  the  ashes  out  of  the  bowl,  said  to  his 
friend  :  "  Buchanan,  I  want  to  give  you  a  little  piece  of  advice, 
which  I  hope  you  will  remember.  I  knew  a  man  once  who 
made  his  fortune  by  attending  to  his  own  business.  Tell  the 
lady  I  will  see  her  presently." 

The  man  who  became  President  in  1856  was  fond  of  saying 
that  this  remark  of  Andrew  Jackson  humiliated  him  more  than 
any  rebuke  he  had  ever  received.  He  walked  down  stairs  to 
meet  his  fair  charge,  and  in  a  very  short  time  President  Jack 
son  entered  the  room,  dressed  in  a  full  suit  of  black,  cleanly 
shaved,  with  his  stubborn  white  hair  forced  back  from  his  re 
markable  face,  and,  advancing  to  the  beautiful  Britisher,  saluted 
her  with  almost  kingly  grace.  As  she  left  the  White  House  she 
exclaimed  to  her  escort, "  Your  republican  President  is  the  royal 
model  of  a  gentleman." 

[April  9, 1871.] 


66  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


XIV. 

SHORTLY  after  the  return  of  Henry  E.  Muhlenberg  from  the 
court  of  Austria,  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  minister  by 
President  Van  Buren  in  1838,  I  was  invited  by  General  Cam 
eron  to  take  a  ride  with  him  from  Middletown  to  Reading,  via 
Pottsville.  It  was  in  May  of  1841  or  '42,  the  loveliest  spring 
month  of  the  year.  We  took  it  leisurely,  had  a  fine  pair  of 
horses  and  a  comfortable  carriage,  and  enjoyed  the  scenery,  the 
weather,  and  the  conversation  of  the  people,  with  whom  Gen 
eral  Cameron  was,  even  at  that  early  day,  on  the  most  familiar 
terms.  It  was  very  pleasant  to  notice  how  intimately  he  un 
derstood  the  habits  and  history  of  the  people  of  the  whole 
country-side  through  which  we  passed — how,  at  intervals,  he 
would  stop  the  carriage,  hail  the  passer-by,  ask  about  his 
health,  joke  with  him  on  politics,  inquire  after  his  wife,  sons, 
and  daughters  by  name,  and  enter  into  a  familiar  speculation 
as  to  the  coming  crops.  I  can  not  recall  all  the  incidents  of 
this  delightful  drive.  There  was  no  railroad  in  those  days  from 
Harrisburg  to  Lebanon  and  Reading,  and  none  from  Pottsville 
to  Reading,  so  that  after  free  and  cordial  intercourse  with  the 
politicians  at  John  W.  Weaver's  old-fashioned  hotel  in  Potts 
ville,  we  proceeded  to  the  county  seat  of  Berks,  where  the  car 
riage  was  dismissed,  as  we  had  determined  to  go  to  Philadelphia 
by  the  Reading  Railroad,  which  then  terminated  at  that  place. 
Calling  upon  Mr.  Muhlenberg,  we  found  him  full  of  anecdotes 
of  his  over  two  years'  residence  at  Vienna.  His  son  and  name 
sake  Henry  (who  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Thirty-third 
Congress,  in  which  body  he  only  appeared  a  single  day,  having 
sickened  with  typhoid  fever,  from  the  effects  of  which  he  died 
on  the  9th  of  January,  1854)  had  accompanied  his  father  as 
Secretary  of  Legation,  and  was  present  on  the  occasion  of  our 
visit.  General  Cameron  was  an  ardent  partisan  of  Mr.  Mulv 


HENRY    E.  MUHLENBERG.  67 

lenberg,  who  was  then  a  prominent  candidate  for  Governor. 
As  my  relations  to  Mr.  Buchanan  were  close  and  intimate,  and 
my  preferences  rather  for  Francis  R.  Shunk— the  great  rival 
of  Mr.  Muhlenberg— it  was  thought  that  my  visit  to  the  Berks 
County  statesman  would  do  much  to  control  the  delegates  from 
my  native  county.     I  think  I  preserved  a  proper  neutrality  for 
so  young  a  man — six  years  younger  than  Mr.  Muhlenberg's  son. 
We  conversed  freely  about  Europe  and  about  his  father's  pros 
pects.     It  will  be  recollected  that  James  Buchanan  was  a  can 
didate  for  President  for  more  than  twenty  years  before  he  at 
tained  that  high  position.     He  could  not  afford,  therefore,  to 
take  part  between  the  competitors  for  State  offices,  and  it  was 
primarily  necessary  that  the  delegates  from  his  own  county  of 
Lancaster  to  the  State  convention  should  be  divided  between 
the  two  great  men  who  were  then  contesting  for  the  gubernato 
rial  prize.     I  was  particularly  struck  with  the  affable  and  cor 
dial  manners  of  Mr.  Muhlenberg,  and  with  the  foreign  graces 
imported  into  good  old  Berks  by  his  brilliant  and  self-assured 
son.     We  talked  very  little  politics,  but  as  the  object  was  to 
make  a  good  impression  upon  us,  Mr.  Muhlenberg  directed  the 
servant  to  open  a  bottle  of  Johannisberger  (the  wine  celebrated 
for  centuries,  yet  as  utterly  unknown  to  me  as  if  it  had  been 
the  nectar  of  the  gods),  and  as  he  opened  the  cork  he  said  : 
"This  is  the  genuine  article,"  the  only  wine  of  the  kind  that 
had  ever  come  to  America  up  to  that  period,  "  and  was  pre 
sented  to  me  by  the  Emperor  himself  "—of  whom  it  is  historical 
justice  to  say  that  Mr.  Muhlenberg,  who  was  a  thorough  Ger 
man  scholar  and  a  gentleman,  was  always  a  confidant  and 
friend.     When  the  cork  was  drawn,  the  aroma  of  the  wine 
seemed  to  fill  the  room,  and  the  first  bottle  was  soon  dispatched, 
when  General  Cameron,  with  his  own  peculiar  manner,  insisted 
on  another,  upon  which  Mr.  Muhlenberg  gayly  remarked,  "You 
shall  have  it,  although  it  costs  a  great  deal  of  money."     The 
contest  between  Muhlenberg  and  Shunk  will  be  remembered 


68  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

by  all  the  Pennsylvania  politicians.    Muhlenberg  won  the  nom 
ination,  and  Buchanan  lost  Muhlenberg's  confidence. 

He  died  before  the  election,  on  the  i2th  of  August,  1844,  and 
the  flag  of  the  party  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  defeated 
competitor,  Francis  R.  Shunk,  who  was  elected  in  October  of 
the  same  year.  Had  Muhlenberg  lived,  with  his  large  wealth, 
fine  acquirements,  and  winning  manners,  he  would  have  been 
the  most  formidable  enemy  of  Buchanan's  Presidential  aspira 
tions.  As  it  was,  his  successor,  Governor  Shunk,  soon  got  into 
collision  with  Buchanan,  not  because  he  deserved  that  fate,  but 
because  of  his  inability  or  the  inability  of  any  aspirant  for  the 
Presidency  to  steer  by  devious  courses  between  rival  candidates 
for  other  and  inferior  places.  Mr.  Buchanan  at  last  secured 
the  nomination  for  the  Presidential  bauble,  and  there  was,  I 
think,  no  living  Muhlenberg  who  supported  him,  except  the 
venerable  Dr.  Muhlenberg  at  Lancaster. 

[April  16, 1871.] 


XV. 

THE  wit  and  sentiment  of  the  dinner-table,  encircled  by  in 
telligent  men  and  women,  if  they  could  have  been  recorded, 
say  for  the  last  thirty  years,  would  be  a  treasure  above  price. 
Flashed  out  under  the  influences  of  generous  fare  and  refined 
familiarity,  they  startle  or  delight,  like  so  many  meteors,  and 
are  as  speedily  forgotten,  or,  if  remembered  at  all,  never  re 
peated  with  their  original  brilliancy.  The  only  man  alive  that 
I  know,  for  instance,  who  can  tell  us  about  Daniel  Webster  at 
the  dinner-table,  is  the  world-known  host  of  the  Astor  House, 
New  York,  Charles  Stetson.  I  saw  him  a  few  weeks  since,  and 
found  him  as  genial  and  as  full  of  incident  as  he  was  when  I 
first  met,  under  his  storied  roof,  the  leading  characters  of  the 


DINNER-TABLE   WITS.  69 

period — between  1846  and  1851 — when  John  Van  Buren,  Hen 
ry  J.  Raymond,  George  Law,  Horace  Greeley,  James  T.  Brady, 
E.  B.  Hart,  John  Brougham,  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  Edwin  Forrest, 
Thurlow  Weed,  Dean  Richmond,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  Peter 
Cagger,  congregated  there  in  social  intercourse,  to  discuss  pol 
itics  and  poetry,  science  and  art,  steam-ships  and  railroads,  can 
didates  and  creeds.  This  goodly  company  is  now  widely  scat 
tered.  Some  have  been  introduced  to  the  mysteries  beyond 
the  grave.  Webster,  John  Van  Buren,  James  T.  Brady,  Dean 
Richmond,  Peter  Cagger,  Henry  J.  Raymond,  are  entered  upon 
the  endless  roll  of  death.  Thurlow  Weed  is  writing  his  memo 
ries  in  honored  and  philosophical  retirement ;  George  Law  is 
living  respected  upon  his  immense  fortune,  the  product  of  a 
career  of  unmatched  energy ;  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  after  an 
experience  of  even  greater  daring  and  progress,  emerges  from 
his  repose  to  lend  his  large  wealth  and  ripe  judgment  to  the 
grandest  of  all  the  Pacific  railroads ;  Horace  Greeley  vibrates 
between  his  editorial  room  and  his  farm,  happy  in  his  perfect 
independence  and  in  the  consciousness  that  he  has  secured  the 
golden  opinions  of  all  sorts  of  people ;  Daniel  E.  Sickles  crowns 
a  stormy  and  brilliant  life  as  his  country's  representative  at  one 
of  the  oldest  European  courts ;  John  Brougham  is  as  fertile, 
alike  as  actor  and  author,  as  he  was  in  1851 ;  Forrest,  after  fifty 
years'  service  on  the  stage,  is  slowly  withdrawing  from  an  arena 
in  which  he  has  all  this  long  period  figured  as  the  uncontested 
monarch,  living  on  the  rich  harvest  of  his  brain  in  his  noble 
mansion  in  Philadelphia,  surrounded  by  his  bcoks,  which  he 
enjoys  with  a  student's  zest,  and  by  his  engravings,  his  photo 
graphs,  his  pictures,  and  his  statuary;  Colonel  Stebbins  is  the 
beloved  centre  of  a  circle  of  devoted  friends,  the  patron  of  art, 
the  philosopher,  the  statesman,  the  advanced  Democrat  who 
was  chosen  to  Congress  without  solicitation,  and  resigned  be 
cause  if  he  voted  with  the  men  who  elected  him  he  would  dis 
honor  himself,  and  if  he  voted  against  them  he  would  betray 


70  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

them — the  Republican  who  dines  at  the  Democratic  Manhattan 
Club,  and  still  associates  with  those  who  know  he  differs  from 
them  from  honest  convictions ;  E.  B.  Hart,  the  leading  repre 
sentative  and  the  best  type  of  the  Hebrews  of  New  York, 
watching  the  vast  charities  of  his  race  as  their  trustee  and  coun 
selor.  The  Astor  House,  once  the  chosen  rendezvous  of  these 
men  and  their  contemporaries,  sees  them  rarely  within  its  hon 
ored  walls.  The  wave  of  fashion  and  of  wealth  has  carried 
them  up  town.  Business  holds  them  only  a  few  hours  in  its 
vicinity;  the  afternoon  and  night  find  them  in  their  distant 
homes,  or  in  the  more  convenient  clubs  and  hotels  that  have 
risen  like  so  many  palaces  along  and  near  the  magnificent  ave 
nues  stretching  toward  the  Central  Park. 

Ah  !  that  I  could  recall  and  describe  the  happy  hours  I  have 
spent  with  most  of  these  men — the  humor,  the  sentiment,  the 
learning,  the  information,  that  made  our  meetings  so  pleasant 
and  profitable.  They  are  gone,  like  many  who  mingled  in  our 
delightful  symposia. 

One  of  these  I  specially  cherish.  It  was  a  night  spent  with 
Forrest,  George  W.  Barton,  James  T.  Brady,  E.  B.  Hart,  Elli 
ott  (the  matchless  portrait-painter),  William  A.  Seaver,  one  of 
the  choice  writers  for  Harper's  Magazine  and  Weekly,  Lewis 
Gaylord  Clark,  of  The  Knickerbocker,  Captain  Hunter,  of  the 
navy,  and  one  or  two  more  I  can  not  recollect.  The  speech  of 
Barton,  the  anecdotes  and  imitations  of  Forrest,  the  jokes  of 
Clark,  the  repartees  of  Brady,  the  art-history  of  Elliott,  the  sea- 
legends  of  Hunter — I  bear  them  all  in  memory,  and  almost  see 
their  faces,  though  more  than  twenty  years  have  gone,  and  the 
flowers  and  verdure  of  this  early  spring  are  blossoming  and 
growing  above  the  graves  of  Brady,  Elliott,  and  Hunter. 

John  Van  Buren  was  the  despot  of  the  dinner-table.  He 
had  a  way  of  assuming  the  command  that  made  him  resistless, 
and  he  had  the  bearing,  the  voice,  and  the  domination  that 


DINNER-TABLE   WITS.  71 

seemed  to  give  equity  to  the  title  of  "  Prince,"  bestowed  by  his 
enemies  and  adopted  by  his  friends. 

James  T.  Brady's  massive  head,  with  its  coronal  of  curls,  his 
graceful  form,  electric  wit,  ready  rhetoric,  and  Irish  enthusi 
asm — how  I  see  and  hear  and  feel  them  all,  now  that  he,  too, 
like  Van  Buren,  has  been  gathered  by  the  great  Shepherd  to 
the  eternal  fold. 

The  best  dinner-table  orator,  the  sharpest  wit  when  the  cloth 
is  removed,  the  most  genial  of  public  hosts,  is  my  dear  friend, 
Morton  McMichael,  of  Philadelphia.  Time  has  not  withered 
him,  either  in  humor  or  digestion,  judging  by  my  last  two  expe 
riences  :  that  when  he  spoke  to  the  trustees  of  the  Peabody 
fund,  some  weeks  ago,  at  the  Continental  Hotel,  in  Philadel 
phia,  and  that  when  he  presided  over  the  dinner  given  by  the 
journalists  of  Philadelphia  to  Colonel  Charles  J.  Biddle,  the 
editor  of  The  Age,  the  Democratic  organ  of  Pennsylvania. 

Probably  no  man  ever  lived  in  this  country  who  made,  at 
least  in  his  short  career,  more  impression  upon  society  gener 
ally  than  John  T.  S.  Sullivan,  a  Boston-born  gentleman,  the 
college-mate  of  Charles  Sumner,  who  removed  to  Philadelphia, 
and  died  there  on  the  3ist  of  December,  1848,  aged  thirty-five. 
He  was  singularly,  perhaps  dangerously,  gifted.  Lawyer,  ora 
tor,  scholar,  and  man  of  society,  loved  alike  by  men  and  women, 
he  passed  away  too  early,  but  left  behind  him  a  name  never  to 
be  forgotten  by  his  friends. 

Nobody  I  know  excels  Daniel  Dougherty,  of  Philadelphia, 
in  ready  wit  at  the  dinner-table,  in  powers  of  imitation,  in  grace 
ful  conversation,  and  apt  response.  He  is  our  James  T.  Brady. 
Gray  hairs  are  gathering  over  you,  dear  friend,  but  you  have 
preserved  an  unspoiled  name,  and  are  growing  in  wisdom  and 
caution  with  increasing  greenbacks  and  years. 

[April  23,  1871.] 


72  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


XVI. 

A  GREAT  many  people  who  read  the  proceedings  of  Congress 
puzzle  themselves  with  the  question  what  is  meant  by  the  ex 
ecutive  session  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.     This  ses 
sion  is,  in  fact,  the  Masonry  of  American  legislation.     There  is 
perhaps  nothing  like  it  in  civilized  government,  although  the 
theory  of  it  pervades  the  administration  of  all  nations.     This 
theory  is  that  there  are  certain  things  in  public  affairs  which 
can  not  be  intrusted  to  the  public.     Among  these  are  treaties 
with  foreign  powers,  and  important  official  nominations.     To 
discuss  these  in  the  presence  of  an  inquisitive  newspaper  world 
would  be  to  reveal  to  outside  rivals  much  that  ought  to  be  con 
cealed,  and  to  expose  private  character  to  universal  criticism. 
The  executive  session  of  the  Senate  is  in  many  respects  like 
the  confidential  meetings  of  the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  the  Masons,  without  partaking  of  any  of  the  pe 
culiar  traits  of  these  honored  and  honorable  orders.    AVhen  the 
Senate  resolves  to  go  into  executive  session  the  galleries  are 
cleared  of  spectators,  and  the  newspaper  and  Globe  reporters 
retire,  frequently  with  a  gladsome  smile,  because,  in  many  cases, 
they  have  become  fatigued  with  the  "damnable  (rhetorical)  iter 
ation."     Our  friend  Murphy,  the  pleasant  successor  of  the  ven 
erable  Mr.  Sutton,  with  his  official  corps  of  rapid  and  ravenous 
short-handers  —  who  transcribe  the  oratorical  volume  poured 
out  day  after  day  by  the  Senate,  and  poured  into  the  columns 
of  The  Globe— recedes  to  his  little  room  when  the  president  an 
nounces  that  the  Senate  will  go  into  executive  session,  unutter 
ably  relieved.     Sometimes  a  motion  to  go  into  executive  ses 
sion  is  carried  before  a  word  has  been  spoken  in  public  debate, 
and  that  is  the  welcome  exception  to  Murphy.     I  wish  I  could 
tell  you  all  that  transpires  when  the  doors  of  the  Senate  are 
shut,  and  the  spectators  and  newspaper  men  are  driven  out ; 


//*>?       OF  THS 

HUNI 71 

IN    EXECUTIVE   SESSION.  73 

but  as  my  obligations  to  keep  this  secret  did  not  terminate  with 
my  resignation  as  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  I  can  only  talk  tc 
you  of  the  manners  of  that  highly  respectable  conclave.  The 
first  thing  is  the  utter  abandon  of  the  Senators.  They  have 
no  audiences  to  look  down  upon  and  listen  to  them.  They 
have  no  gentlemen  with  the  lightning  pen  to  telegraph  them  to 
distant  points.  They  are  not  called  upon  to  face  and  to  fear 
their  constituency.  Bound  together  by  a  solemn  covenant  not 
to  reveal  what  transpires,  they  do  exactly  what  pleases  them 
most.  I  must  say,  with  my  frequent  opportunities  of  observation, 
I  have  seen  few  who  ever  overpassed  the  courtesies  and  the 
proprieties  of  the  place.  All  are  easier  and  more  familiar  than 
when  under  the  universal  eye  of  a  suspicious  People.  Those 
who  smoke,  smoke  ;  those  who  like  to  be  comfortable,  take  off 
their  coats — but  there  is  no  such  thing  as  dissipation,  at  least  in 
side  the  chamber.  Debate  is  made  free  because  there  is  nobody 
to  take  it  down,  and  the  altercations,  common  in  the  open  Sen 
ate,  are  not  uncommon  between  those  walls ;  and  yet  the  perfect 
familiarity  of  the  Senators,  and  the  absence  of  all  restraint,  con 
tribute  to  the  adjustment  of  every  dispute,  however  violent. 

Talking  about  these  executive  sessions  reminds  me  of  the 
difficulty  of  keeping  an  official  secret.  The  Senators  are  all 
oath-bound  not  to  disclose  executive  business,  and  they  rarely 
do  so,  unless  as  regards  nominations  and  confirmations  for  po 
litical  offices ;  but  as  these  involve  nothing  of  important  polit 
ical  concern,  there  is  a  common  courtesy  that  when  a  man  is 
rejected  or  confirmed  the  circumstance  may  be  freely  spoken 
of;  and  it  deserves  to  be  said  of  the  Senators  generally  that 
they  keep  what  is  intrusted  to  them  with  unusual  fidelity.  To 
exercise  ordinary  discretion  and  care  requires  extraordinary 
tact.  The  doors  of  the  Senate  are  scarcely  opened  after  exec 
utive  session,  when  the  whole  newspaper  tribe  besiege  the  Sen 
ators  with  inquiries,  and  he  must  be  a  rare  man  who  can  refuse 
to  drop  a  word  to  an  editorial  or  reportorial  friend. 

D 


74  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Cabinet  Ministers  have  many  secrets  confided  to  them,  ajid 
great  ingenuity  is  required  to  rescue  them  from  dangerous  reve 
lations.     The  safest  depositary  of  an  official  secret  I  ever  knew 
was  James  Buchanan.     This  may  have  resulted  from  his  cold 
and  unimpassioned  nature.     Certain  it  is,  he  never  betrayed 
what  took  place  either  in  the  Senate  or  in  the  Cabinet.     The 
manner  in  which  he  preserved  and  kept  from  public  view  the 
fact  of  his  nomination  as  Secretary  of  State  under  President 
Polk,  twenty-nine  years  ago,  is  a  good  illustration.    He  was  re 
garded  as  the  probable  successor  of  Daniel  Webster,  who  held 
that  great  portfolio  under  most  of  the  administration  of  John 
Tyler,  but  there  were  many  doubters.     I  remember  being  pres 
ent  at  a  dinner  given  at  the  National  Hotel  by  Commodore 
Stockton,  of  New  Jersey,  a  few  days  before  the  inauguration  of 
President  Polk,  in  February  of  1845.     Among  the  guests  were 
General  William  O.  Butler,  of  Kentucky ;  George  Bancroft,  of 
New  York;   Robert  J.Walker,  of  Mississippi;  and  John  R. 
Thompson,  of  New  Jersey— all  since  dead,  except  Bancroft,  now 
at  Berlin.     Commodore  Stockton  was  exceedingly  anxious  to 
discover  the  material  of  the  incoming  Cabinet,  and  he  offered  a 
wager  that  he  could  name  a  majority  of  the  men  who  were  to 
compose  it.     That  wager  was  taken  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  without 
an  allusion  to  his  contingent  connection  with  the  new  Adminis 
tration.     He  was  so  careful  and  cautious  that,  up  to  the  time 
of  his  nomination  by  President  Polk,  no  friend-not  even  the 
one  nearest  to  him— could  positively  assert  that  he  would  be 
associated  with  it  in  any  way. 

I  observe  that  the  Lancaster  Examiner,  without  absolute 
ly  contradicting  my  statement  that  General  Jackson  reconv 
mended  James  Buchanan  to  James  K.  Polk  for  Secretary  of 
State,  questions  it  upon  the  theory  that  General  Jackson  had 
never  previously  trusted  "  Pennsylvania's  favorite  son."  All  I 
have  to  say  in  reply,  is  that  I  have  no  doubt  this  letter  of  Gen- 
eral  Jackson  in  favor  of  Mr.  Buchanan  will  be  found  among  the 


THE   MILLS    HOUSE.  75 

private  papers  of  the  latter,  and  that  his  biographer  will  estab 
lish  the  fact  as  I  have  stated  it.  That  General  Jackson  was 
never  a  special  friend  of  James  Buchanan  is  most  true,  but  that 
he  recommended  Buchanan  to  James  K.  Polk  as  the  first  man 
in  his  Cabinet  is  my  sincere  belief. 

[April  30,  1871.] 


XVII. 

THE  winter  before  the  war,  shortly  after  having  been  again 
elected  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  I  rented  two  large  chambers  on  the  lower  floor  of  what 
is  known  on  Capitol  Hill  as  "  The  Mills  House,"  and  occupied 
them,  with  brief  intervals,  until  March  of  1871 — sometimes  in 
cluding  the  two  upper  parlors,  and  occasionally  taking  posses 
sion  of  the  whole  house,  which  was  very  large  and  commodious ; 
but  this  only  happened  when  I  called  my  friends  around  me, 
about  once  every  three  months.  I  began  these  assemblies 
shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  and  cementing  a  patriotic  public  opinion.  My  guests 
were  always  numerous  enough  to  fill  every  room  in  the  house, 
including  the  basement.  They  were  men  of  all  ideas,  profes 
sions,  and  callings.  We  had  no  test  but  devotion  to  our  coun 
try.  We  met  like  a  band  of  brothers — the  lawyer,  the  clergy 
man,  the  editor,  the  reporter,  the  poet,  the  painter,  the  inventor, 
the  politician,  the  stranger,  the  old  citizen,  the  Southerner  and 
the  Northerner,  the  soldier  and  the  statesman,  the  clerk  and 
the  Cabinet  Minister,  and  last,  not  least,  President  Lincoln 
himself.  Nothing  was  spared  to  add  to  the  interest  of  these 
symposia.  We  had  speeches  and  recitations,  vocal  and  instru 
mental  music,  all  adding  to  the  main  objective  point  —  the 
awakening  of  ah  enthusiasm  for  the  assailed  Republic.  If  a 


76  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

leading  man  reached  Washington  on  the  clay  of  our  meeting  he 
was  instantly  invited.  A  journal  of  the  proceedings  of  these 
hearty  foregatherings  would  be  unusually  attractive  reading. 
At  one  table  Thaddeus  Stevens  would  be  found  playing  a  game 
of  whist  with  the  Democratic  Representative  from  Indiana,  the 
venerable  John  Law ;  at  another  William  Pitt  Fessenden  and 
Senator  Nesmith,  of  Oregon.  Speaker,  now  Vice-President 
Colfax,  would  be  seen  in  the  corner  with  his  inevitable  cigar, 
talking  with  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Randall,  the  Democratic  Repre 
sentative  from  the  First  Pennsylvania  district.  In  another  re 
cess  George  D.  Prentice,  of  the  Louisville  Journal,  would  be 
discussing  politics  with  Joseph  Medill,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune. 
The  great  portrait -painter,  Elliott,  would  be  engaged  in  art- 
ethics  with  Brady,  the  photographer ;  and  so  on  through  all  the 
grades  of  sentiment  and  society. 

One  evening  in  particular  I  shall  never  forget,  when  William 
H.  Russell,  the  famous  correspondent  of  the  London  Times,  was 
present.  While  we  were  singing  the  "  Star-spangled  Banner" 
(this  was  before  we  got  rid  of  the  peculiar  institution),  he  joined 
in  the  chorus  in  a  loud  voice,  singing  "  America,  the  land  of 
the  free,  and  the  home  of  the  slave."  There  were  argumenta 
tions  and  discussions,  but  no  quarreling.  Another  night,  when 
nearly  all  the  Cabinet  were  present,  General  Cameron,  Secre 
tary  of  War,  startled  the  proprieties  by  taking  bold  ground  in 
favor  of  arming  the  negroes.  He  was  immediately  answered 
by  Hon.  Caleb  N.  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  the  con 
troversy  became  exceedingly  animated,  enlisting  all  the  com 
pany,  silencing  the  music,  and  creating  a  deal  of  consternation. 
Robert  J.  Walker,  George  D.  Prentice,  and  several  more  par 
ticipated  in  the  discussion,  while  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  then  a 
quiet  practitioner  of  the  law,  stood  by,  a  silent  figure  in  the 
scene. 

Edwin   Forrest  was   always  one  of  us  whenever  he  visited 
Washington,  and,  as  I  said  in  a  former  number,  was  the  toast 


EDWIN    FORREST.  77 

and  the  star  of  the  night.  He  gave  liberally  to  the  Union  cause, 
without  being  a  Republican.  Though  he  did  not  unite  with  us 
when  we  sung  "John  Brown,"  none  could  have  been  more 
graceful  and  ready  in  contributing  to  the  general  pleasure.  One 
dramatic  night  I  shall  never  forget.  Forrest  was  in  royal  con 
dition.  He  came  early  and  stayed  late.  He  seemed  to  be  pre 
pared  to  make  every  body  happy.  He  needed  no  solicitation 
to  display  his  varied  stores  of  humor  and  of  information  : 
sketches  of  foreign  travel ;  photographs  of  Southern  manners, 
alike  of  the  master  and  the  slave ;  his  celebrated  French  criti 
cism  upon  Shakespeare  ;  his  imitation  of  the  old  clergyman  of 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  who,  deaf  himself,  believed  every 
body  else  to  be  so ;  his  thrilling  account  of  his  meeting  with 
Edmund  Kean,  at  Albany,  when  Forrest  was  a  boy ;  his  inci 
dents  of  General  Jackson  •  his  meeting  with  Lafayette  at  Rich 
mond,  in  1825.  Few  that  heard  him  can  ever  forget  that  night. 
But  nothing  that  he  did  will  be  remembered  longer  than  the 
manner  in  which  he  recited  "  The  Idiot  Boy,"  a  production  up 
to  that  time  unknown  to  every  body  in  the  room  except  Forrest 
and  myself,  and  to  me  only  because  I  heard  him  repeat  it  seven 
years  before,  when  I  lived  on  Eighth  Street,  in  the  house  lately 
known  as  the  Waverley.  These  lines  are  so  beautiful  and  so 
unique  that  I  print  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  readers  of  these 
hasty  sketches. 

To  add  to  their  present  value,  it  may  be  interesting  to  say 
that  the  verses  subjoined  are  taken  from  an  autograph  copy, 
forwarded  to  me  yesterday  by  my  dear  friend  Forrest  himself, 
accompanied  by  the  following  note.  The  style  of  Mr.  Forrest's 
writing  is  as  clear,  correct,  and  careful  as  it  was  twenty  years 
ago: 

"PHILADELPHIA,  May  4,  1871. 

"  MY  DEAR  FORNEY, — I  could  not  find  the  book  that  contains  the  little 
poem.  I  think  friend  Dougherty  has  it,  and  so  I  have  written  it  from  mem 
ory. 


^3  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

"The  author,  who  is  doubtless  in  Heaven,  will,  I  trust,  pardon  all  mis- 
takes.  Your  friend,  EDWIN  FORREST. 

"  Colonel  JOHN  W.  FORNEY. 

•••THE  IDIOT  BOY. 
" '  It  had  pleased  God  to  form  poor  Ned 

A  thing  of  idiot  mind, 
Yet,  to  the  poor  unreasoning  boy, 
God  had  not  been  unkind. 

"  '  Old  Sarah  loved  her  helpless  child, 

Whom  helplessness  made  dear ; 
And  he  was  every  thing  to  her, 
Who  knew  no  hope  or  fear. 

" '  She  knew  his  wants,  she  understood 

Each  half-articulate  call, 
For  he  was  every  thing  to  her, 
And  she  to  him  was  all. 

"  '  And  so  for  many  a  year  they  lived, 

Nor  knew  a  wish  beside ; 
But  age  at  last  on  Sarah  came, 
And  she  fell  sick — and  died. 

"  *  He  tried  in  vain  to  waken  her, 
He  called  her  o'er  and  o'er; 
They  told  him  she  was  dead ! 

The  words  to  him  no  import  bore. 

"  *  They  closed  her  eyes  and  shrouded  her, 

While  he  stood  wondering  by, 
And  when  they  bore  her  to  the  grave, 
He  followed  silently. 

«  « They  laid  her  in  the  narrow  house, 

They  sung  the  funeral  stave ; 
And  when  the  fun'ral  train  dispersed, 
He  lingered  by  that  grave. 

* '  The  rabble  boys  that  used  to  jeer 
Whene'er  they  saw  poor  Ned, 
Now  stood  and  watched  him  by  the  grave, 
And  not  a  word  they  said. 


THE    IDIOT   BOY.  79 

*  'They  came  and  went  and  came  again, 

Till  night  at  last  came  on ; 
Yet  still  he  lingered  by  the  grave, 
Till  every  one  had  gone. 

"  '  And  when  he  found  himself  alone, 

He  swift  removed  the  clay ; 
Then  raised  the  coffin  up  in  haste, 
And  bore  it  swift  away. 

"  '  He  bore  it  to  his  mother's  cot, 

And  laid  it  on  the  floor, 
And  with  the  eagerness  of  joy 
He  barred  the  cottage  door. 

"  '  Then  out  he  took  his  mother's  corpse, 

And  placed  it  in  a  chair ; 
And  soon  he  heaped  the  hearth, 
And  made  the  kindling  fire  with  care. 

"  '  He  had  put  his  mother  in  her  chair, 

And  in  its  wonted  place, 
And  then  he  blew  the  fire,  which  shone, 
Reflected  in  her  face. 

"  '  And,  pausing  now,  her  hand  would  feel, 

And  then  her  face  behold  : 
"  Why,  mother,  do  you  look  so  pale, 
And  why  are  you  so  cold  ?" 

"  '  It  had  pleased  God  from  the  poor  wretch 

His  only  friend  to  call ; 
Yet  God  was  kind  to  him,  and  soon 
In  death  restored  him  all.'' " 

The  picture  of  the  Idiot  Boy  and  his  widowed  mother,  the 
broken  voice  and  sobs  of  the  son  when  the  poor  woman  died 
and  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  her  witless  child — if  this  grand 
picture  could  have  been  presented  from  the  stage,  it  would 
have  been  even  greater  than  his  Lear  or  his  Richelieu.  I  had 
Jefferson  more  than  once  as  a  visitor,  and  Davenport,  and  gen 
erous,  true-hearted  Murdoch. 

But  long  before  I  was  a  tenant  in  the  old  Mills  House  it  had 


80  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

a  peculiar  story  of  its  own.  It  is  one  of  the  institutions  of 
Washington.  Occupied  during  the  last  hundred  years  by  men 
of  all  shades  of  politics,  there  is  hardly  a  room  in  it  that  has 
not  a  legend  by  which  to  be  remembered.  George  Washing 
ton,  John  Marshall,  and  their  contemporaries,  have  met  and 
counseled  within  its  walls,  and  the  political  leaders  of  a  later 
period  have  successively  gathered  there.  When  I  bade  fare 
well,  nothing  seemed  more  saddening  to  me  than  to  feel  that  I 
had  probably  left  the  old  house  forever,  and  yet,  whenever  bus 
iness  calls  me  back  to  the  National  Capital,  I  return  to  these 
ancient  rooms  as  a  son  goes  back  to  home  and  fireside.  But 
there  are  so  many  more  reminiscences  connected  with  these  re 
unions  that  I  shall  venture  some  other  allusions  to  them  in  a 
future  number. 

[May  7, 1871.] 


XVIII. 

RUFUS  CHOATE,  of  Massachusetts,  must  have  been,  in  most 
of  his  qualities,  very  like  the  lamented  George  W.  Barton,  of 
Pennsylvania.  Quick  and  impetuous  of  speech,  wholly  original 
in  manner,  abounding  in  rich  and  gorgeous  imagery,  he  was 
also  a  melancholy  man,  and  his  keen,  quick  intellect  wore  out 
and  wore  through  a  nervous  organization.  It  will  be  remem 
bered  that  his  great  heart  was  severely  wounded  when  Daniel 
Webster  was  defeated  by  General  Scott  for  the  Whig  nomina 
tion  for  President  at  the  Baltimore  Convention  in  1852,  which 
he  attended  as  a  delegate  from  Massachusetts,  and  that  from 
that  hour  his  allegiance  to  his  favorite  party  began  to  weaken, 
until  1856,  when  he  took  ground  in  favor  of  James  Buchanan 
in  his  celebrated  speech  at  Worcester — the  effect  of  which  will 
be  recalled  by  the  unforgotten  sentence  in  which  he  called 


RUFUS    CHOATE.  8 1 

upon  his  friends  to  support  the  Democratic  candidate,  because 
he  "carried  the  flag  and  kept  step  to  the  music  of  the  Union." 
I  heard  a  very  pleasant  incident,  some  evenings  ago,  related  by 
a  distinguished  Senator  in  Congress  from  one  of  the  Western 
States,  who  was  himself  the  party  immediately  benefited.  Anx 
ious  when  quite  young  to  complete  the  study  of  his  profession, 
he  visited  Boston,  and  called  upon  Mr.  Choate  and  offered  him 
self  as  one  of  his  students.  Struck  by  the  earnestness  and 
frankness  of  the  appeal,  the  great  lawyer  took  him  into  his  con 
fidence,  and  soon  realized  that  he  could  be  made  useful.  At 
the  end  of  two  years,  the  student  informed  the  preceptor  that 
he  intended  to  begin  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  flour 
ishing  State  of  Wisconsin.  The  answer  of  Mr.  Choate  was 
characteristic.  He  said  :  "  I  honor  your  determination,  but  I 
was  selfish  enough  to  hope  that  you  might  remain  with  me;  yet, 
as  you  have  resolved  upon  this  step,  you  can  always  rely  upon 
my  friendship;"  then  asked  if  he  had  any  money,  to  which  the 
young  man  replied  that  he  had  no  means  to  purchase  his  law 
library ;  whereupon  Mr.  Choate  said,  "  Go  to  Little  &  Brown 
(the  old-established  law  publishers),  select  your  books,  and  re 
fer  them  to  me  as  your  security."  Elated  by  this  renewed  mark 
of  his  esteem,  he  laid  in  what  he  conceived  to  be  a  good  as 
sortment,  and  took  the  list  back  to  the  great  man,  who,  glancing 
over  it,  said,  "  Your  list  is  too  small ;"  and,  taking  up  the  legal 
catalogue,  he  designated  with  his  own  hand  a  very  much  in~ 
creased  collection,  amounting  to  some  four  or  five  thousand 
dollars,  adding,  "  With  these  tools  you  can  begin  something  like 
effective  work."  Our  young  practitioner  started  for  the  West, 
and  opened  his  office,  but,  as  bad  luck  would  have  it,  was  strick 
en  down  by  one  of  the  dangerous  fevers  of  the  country.  Of 
course  he  could  not  pay  the  note  when  it  fell  due,  but  Mr. 
Choate  kindly  and  carefully  protected  his  credit.  With  un 
broken  spirit  and  restored  health  he  began  the  practice  of  the 
law,  and  at  the  end  of  a  comparatively  short  time  earned  enough 

D  2 


82  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

money  to  liquidate  his  obligation;  "but,"  he  said,  "as  long  as 
life  lasts  I  shall  never  cease  to  cherish  the  name  of  Rufus 
Choate,  and  I  would  walk  from  here  to  Boston  barefooted  to 
serve  any  of  his  kith  or  kin." 

Dwelling  upon  the  devotion  of  Choate  to  Webster,  and  of 
Webster  to  Choate,  our  regret  increases  that  these  remarkable 
men  had  not,  like  John  Quincy  Adams,  preserved  a  steady  rec 
ord  of  their  busy  and  distinguished  lives.  How  full  of  inci 
dent  they  must  have  been !  They  reveled  in  the  enjoyment 
of  literature  and  of  all  descriptions  of  learning.  Wholly  differ 
ent  in  temperament,  and  yet  alike  in  their  eagerness  to  lead  in 
great  mental  strifes,  their  written  experience  would  have  filled 
priceless  volumes.  Webster  died  in  his  seventieth  year,  and 
Choate  in  his  sixty-first — the  first  in  1852,  and  the  second  in 
1859,  and  the  finest  tribute  ever  paid  to  the  Great  Expounder 
was  paid  by  his  affectionate  follower  and  friend  at  Dartmouth 
College,  on  July  27, 1853. 

How  faithfully  the  elder  statesman  has  described  the  differ 
ence  between  the  recollections  of  the  mind  and  the  memory  of 
the  heart  will  be  realized  in  the  following  beautiful  lines,  not 
often  published,  which  he  contributed  to  a  lady's  album  : 
"  If  stores  of  dry  and  learned  lore  we  gain, 
Close  keep  them  in  the  memory  of  the  brain : 
Things,  dates,  and  facts,  whate'er  we  knowledge  call, 
There  is  the  common  ledger  of  them  all ; 
And  images  on  this  cold  surface  traced 
Make  slight  impression  and  are  soon  effaced. 

"  But  we've  a  record  more  beautiful  and  bright 
On  which  our  friendships  and  our  loves  to  write : 
That  these  may  never  from  the  mind  depart, 
We  trust  them  to  the  memory  of  the  heart. 
There  is  no  dimming — no  effacement  here, 
Each  new  pulsation  keeps  the  record  clear ; 
Warm  golden  letters  all  the  tablet  fill, 
Nor  lose  their  lustre  till  the  heart  stands  still." 

[May  14, 1871.] 


GENIAL   MEN.  83 


XIX. 

SOMBRE  manners  do  not  always  prove  the  statesman.     The 
greatest  men  I  ever  knew  were  plain  of  speech  and  plain  of 
dress.    Even  those  who  could  not  tell  a  good  story  relished  one 
from  others.     The  clearest  logician  in  the  days  of  Jackson  and 
Van  Buren  was  Silas  Wright,  who  was  strangely  modest  and 
unobtrusive.     Henry  Clay,  haughty  and  imperious  as  he  often 
was,  delighted  in  anecdote.     The  unequaled  Webster  was  too 
wise  and  sensible  not  to  enjoy  humor.     John  C.  Calhoun  was 
almost  child-like  in  his  ways.    William  Wirt  was  ambitious,  and 
literally  reveled  in  the  flowers  of  literature.     John  Quincy  Ad 
ams  was  too  thorough  a  master  of  diplomacy  not  to  know  the 
value  of  wit.     No  man  now  living,  either  at  home  or  abroad, 
more  keenly  enjoys  music,  painting,  and  poetry,  and  talks  bet 
ter  about  them,  than  Charles  Sumner.     His  tastes  are  refined, 
his  hospitalities  generous,  and  his  plate,  pictures,  and  engrav 
ings  rare ;  and  he  could  pronounce  as  learned  a  discourse  upon 
art  as  upon  politics.     There  are  not  many  wits  in  Congress  at 
the  present  day.     If  you  exclude  Nye,  of  Nevada,  in  the  Sen 
ate,  and  Proctor  Knott,  of  Kentucky,  in  the  House,  you  will 
perhaps  sigh  for  such  old-time  men  as  James  Thompson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and"Jack"  Ogle,  of  the  same  State;  Mike  Walsh, 
of  New  York;  Felix  Grundy  McConnell,  of  Alabama ;  William 
H.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  and  Sergeant  S.  Prentiss,  of  Mississippi. 
All  these  are  dead  but  Thompson,  who  now  presides  over  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  enjoying  the  confidence  of 
men  of  all  parties.     It  used  to  be  a  saying  that  the  laugh  of 
James  Thompson,  of  Pennsylvania,  was   the   most   infectious 
laugh  in  the  House.     He  could  not  sing,  but  he  was  a  capital 
story-teller ;  and  to-day,  when  he  unbends  his  judicial  dignity, 
he  can  bring  back  the  men  of  the  past  more  vividly  than  any 
other  man  I  know.     I  recollect  well  the  pleasant  evenings  I 


84  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

spent  while  he  was  a  member  of  Congress,  with  winning,  mag 
netic  Jack  Ogle,  from  my  native  State.  How  rapidly,  between 
the  stories  of  the  one  and  the  songs  of  the  other,  time  passed 
away !  Ogle  had  two  favorites,  one  the  famous  poem  entitled 
"  Jeannette  and  Jeannot,"  which  ought  to  have  been  often  sung 
during  the  recent  war  between  France  and  Germany.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  effect  produced  by  his  exceedingly  handsome 
face,  ringing  voice,  and  flashing  eye,  as  he  rolled  forth  ^these 
simple  stanzas.  They  deserve  to  be  repeated  in  every  liouse- 
hold  in  the  civilized  world  in  this  era  of  approaching  peace  and 
fraternization.  Excuse  me  for  reviving  them  : 

"JEANNETTE  AND  JEANNOT. 
"  You  are  going  far  away,  far  away  from  poor  Jeannette — 
There  is  no  one  left  to  love  me  now ;  and  you,  too,  may  forget ; 
But  my  heart  it  will  be  with  you,  wherever  you  may  go, 
Can  you  look  me  in  the  face  and  say  the  same  to  me,  Jeannot  ? 
When  you  wear  the  jacket  red  and  the  beautiful  cockade, 
Oh  !  I  fear  that  you'll  forget  all  the  promises  you've  made. 
With  your  gun  upon  your  shoulder,  and  your  bayonet  by  your  side, 
You'll  be  taking  some  proud  lady,  and  be  making  her  your  bride. 
You'll  be  taking,  etc. 

"  Or  when  glory  leads  the  way,  you'll  be  madly  rushing  on, 
Never  thinking  if  they  kill  you  that  my  happiness  is  gone. 
Or  if  you  win  the  day  perhaps  a  general  you'll  be  ; 
Though  I  am  proud  to  think  of  that,  love,  what  will  become  of  me  ? 
Oh !  if  I  were  Queen  of  France,  or  still  better,  Pope  of  Rome, 
I'd  have  no  fighting  men  abroad,  no  weeping  maids  at  home  : 
All  the  world  should  be  at  peace,  or,  if  kings  must  show  their  might, 
Why  let  those  who  make  the  quarrels  be  the  only  men  to  fight. 
Yes,  let  those,  etc." 

The  other  was  a  piece  of  domestic  poetry,  known  as  the 
"Arkansas  Traveler."  This  would  have  been  a  monotonous 
recitation  if  it  had  not  been  relieved  by  a  violin  accompani 
ment,  which  made  it  irresistibly  comic.  It  was  no  doubt  bor 
rowed  from  the  extreme  South,  whence  it  derived  its  name,  yet 
it  was  always  a  favorite  among  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Western 


WORK   WITHOUT   PLAY.  85 

Pennsylvania,  and  is  doubtless  to  this  day  recited  along  the 
Juniata,  the  West  Branch,  and  in  Lancaster  and  Chester  coun 
ties,  in  fact,  wherever  the  Irish  Presbyterian  element  is  to  be 
found.  Ogle  had  caught  the  idea  and  utilized  it  in  his  Con 
gressional  campaigns,  and  it  was  really  a  treat  to  see  him, 
drawn  up  to  his  full  height,  playing  the  air  on  the  violin,  and 
then  asking  humorous  questions,  as  follows  : 

"  Stranger,  how  far  is  it  to  the  next  tavern  ?" 

"  About  a  mile,"  was  the  reply.  Then  again,  resuming  his 
bow,  would  play  the  monotonous  chorus,  and  continue  the  dia 
logue  : 

"  Stranger,  can  you  give  us  the  other  part  of  that  tune  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,"  and  repeat  precisely  the  same  strain,  in  addition 
to  the  printed  words  of  the  song. 

Ogle,  during  his  performance,  would  introduce  every  person 
present  and  every  joke  in  his  recollection,  and  would  thus  run 
through  an  interminable  length,  tiring  nobody  except  the  chief 
actor  himself,  who  would  finally  drop  his  instrument  out  of 
sheer  exhaustion. 

So  true  it  is  that  work  without  amusement  is  a  sure  prepara 
tion  for  death;  that  the  brain,  like  the  body,  must  have  rest, 
and  that  when  either  is  overworked,  it  is  like  the  taper  that 
goes  out  for  want  of  oil.  There  is  no  sight  more  painful  than 
the  incessant  occupation  of  public  men,  whether  statesmen, 
scholars,  editors,  railroad  officers,  divines,  or  mechanics,  who, 
misled  by  the  fatal  idea  that  labor  may  be  pursued  without 
pause  or  repose,  discard  all  relaxation,  and  end  either  in  sud 
den  death,  or,  what  is  worse,  premature  decay.  There  is  no 
class  of  what  may  be  called  public  men  who  live  a  longer  av 
erage  life  than  the  actors, -and  why?  Because,  however  hard 
they  may  work,  they  alternate  work  with  pleasure.  In  fact, 
their  work  itself  is  pleasure.  The  philosophy  of  it  consists, 
perhaps,  in  the  romance  of  their  profession,  that  while  they  are 
personating  nature  and  depicting  art,  they  are  separated  from 


86  ANECDOTES  OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  hard  realism  of  the  outer  world ;  but  whatever  it  may  be, 
we  are  taught  one  lesson — that  no  man  can  enjoy  real  happi 
ness  without  occasional  recreation  and  freedom  from  care. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  character  by  himself,  incomparable 
and  unique.  He  was  among  the  saddest  of  humanity,  and  yet 
his  sense  of  the  ridiculous  was  so  keen  that  it  bore  him  up  from 
difficulties  that  would  have  broken  down  almost  any  other  man. 
That  he  gave  way  to  uncontrollable  fits  of  grief  in  the  dark 
hours  of  the  war  is  a  fact  beyond  question— that  sometimes  his 
countenance  was  clouded  with  sorrow,  all  who  met  him  know ; 
and  yet  he  could,  so  to  speak,  lift  himself  out  of  his  troubles, 
and  enjoy  his  own  repartees  and  the  good  things  of  others. 
Nothing  gave  me  more  pleasure  in  my  frequent  visits  to  him,  as 
Secretary  of  the  Senate  and  editor  of  The  Chronicle,  than  to  take 
with  me  men  who  would  tell  original  stories  in  an  original  way ; 
for  I  felt  that  if  I  could  lighten  his  cares  and  brighten  his  gloom 
I  would  be  conferring  a  real  favor,  and  I  never  was  half  so  wel 
come  as  when  in  such  company.  The  old  quirks  and  quips  of 
the  clown  in  the  circus,  the  broad  innuendoes  of  the  low  come 
dian,  the  quiet  sallies  of  the  higher  walks  of  the  drama,  inter 
ested  him  more  than  the  heavy  cadences  and  profound  philos 
ophy  of  tragedy.  Had  his  life  not  been  extinguished  by  the 
assassin,  his  rare  love  of  his  kind,  his  perfect  disinterestedness, 
his  uncouth,  yet  entirely  natural  simplicity  of  character,  and  his 
absolute  idolatry  of  every  thing  that  was  happy  in  nature  and  in 
.man,  would,  I  believe,  have  prolonged  his  life  far  beyond  the 
Psalmist's  age. 

[May  21,  1871.] 


WILLIAM   WILKINS.  87 


XX. 

No  Pennsylvania  statesman  is  more  kindly  remembered  than 
William  Wilkins,  who  was  born  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  December  20, 
1779,  and  died  at  Homewood,  near  Pittsburgh,  June  23,  1865, 
in  the  86th  year  of  his  age.  His  career  may  be  said  to  have 
been  unusually  fortunate  and  distinguished ;  and  when  called 
away  he  was  sincerely  mourned  by  a  community  in  which  he 
had  lived  a  long  period,  and  taken  an  active  part  in  public  af 
fairs.  A  Senator  in  Congress  from  1831  to  1834,  successor  to 
James  Buchanan  at  the  Court  of  St.  Petersburg,  Representa 
tive  in  Congress  from  1843  to  1844,  Secretary  of  War  under 
John  Tyler  from  1844  to  1845,  member  of  the  State  Senate  in 
1857,  and  intermediately  a  successful  practitioner  of  the  law 
and  judge  in  the  higher  courts  of  his  district,  he  filled  all  these 
diversified  stations  with  signal  dignity  and  tact.  His  family 
was  closely  identified  with  the  Government  in  its  political,  judi 
cial,  military,  and  naval  service — many  of  his  connections  to 
this  day  holding  high  and  responsible  positions.  Reared  to 
the  habits  and  manners  of  good  society,  and  well  educated,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  agreeable  of  men  ;  and  yet,  while  mingling 
much  in  fashionable  life,  he  had  confessedly  few  of  its  vices.  I 
have  seen  him  many  an  evening,  when  jollity,  wit,  and  humor 
ruled  the  hour,  yet  he  never  touched  a  glass  of  wine,  and  was 
the  chief  attraction,  by  his  endless  flow  of  spirits  and  his  pecul 
iar  magnetic  amiability.  When  I  was  the  Democratic  candi 
date  for  United  States  Senator,  in  1857,  before  the  Legislature 
of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  Mr.  Wilkins  was  a  member,  I  felt 
that  we  should  have  exchanged  places,  and  that  the  post  for 
which  I  was  selected  ought  to  have  been  tendered  to  him,  and 
called  upon  him  to  make  the  suggestion.  His  answer  was 
characteristic  :  "  Ah,  my  young  friend,  I  have  seen  the  elephant, 
and  it  is  quite  time  that  you  should  have  an  opportunity  of 


88  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

making  his  acquaintance,"  a  luxury,  by  the  way,  which  General 
Cameron  stepped  in  and  reserved  for  himself. 

I  am  reminded  of  this  interesting  character  by  a  letter  which 
I  received  a  few  days  ago  from  my  old  friend,  Dr.  Jonas  R. 
McClintock,  of  Pittsburgh,  who  attended  the  venerable  states 
man  during  his  last  illness,  and  who  is  devoting  himself  to  the 
praiseworthy  task  of  reviving  the  past  history  of  Pittsburgh  and 
Western  Pennsylvania.  His  materials  will  run  back  a  hundred 
years,  and  will,  when  embodied  in  book  form,  constitute  not 
only  a  valuable  depository  of  facts,  but,  if  written,  as  they  will 
be,  in  the  Doctor's  pleasant  style,  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
memoirs  of  the  times.  If  men  like  Dr.  McClintock  would  oc 
cupy  a  little  of  their  leisure  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  same 
purpose,  in  their  respective  localities,  they  would  honor  them 
selves  and  enrich  the  literature  of  their  country.  As  a  speci 
men  of  the  work  now  in  course  of  preparation  by  Dr.  McClin 
tock,  he  inclosed  to  me  the  following  striking  incident  of  the 
last  hours  of  his  venerable  friend,  Judge  Wilkins,  now  for  the 
first  time  published  : 

"  Judge  Wilkins  gloried  in  the  unimpeachable  integrity  that 
marked  the  '  bench,'  and  jealously  guarded  his  own  status  in 
the  profession  by  well  and  carefully  determined  opinions.  It 
was  a  treat  to  listen  to  his  criticisms  on  the  public  acts  of  the 
various  departments  of  the  Government  as  they  transpired  dur 
ing  the  recent  rebellion.  It  was  a  current  on  which  he  de 
lighted  to  glide,  affording  invigorating  exercise  and  securing  an 
intellectual  clearness  that  accompanied  him  through  life. 

"  On  the  occasion  of  a  several  days'  anticipated  visit,  during 
the  last  few  weeks  of  life,  from  his  nearest  neighbor,  a  medical 
friend,  who  was  prevented  making  his  customary  unprofessional 
call,  the  Judge  was  found  in  a  half-reclining  position  on  his 
couch,  in  pleasant  conversation  with  members  of  his  family 
seated  around,  while  the  music  of  the  little  birds  that  had  be 
come  wedded  to  the  broad  eastern  portico  by  his  punctual  sup 
plies,  broke  upon  his  ear  their  joyous  song  of  thanks. 


JEFFERSON    DAVIS   TRIED.  89 

"After  a  pause,  hesitating  to  mar  this  lovely  patriarchal  pict 
ure,  the  defaulting  visitor  entered  the  open  September  door,  to 
whom  the  Judge  turned,  and  after  words  of  sharp  but  playful 
rebuke,  closing  with  rinding  ample  apology  for  apparent  neglect 
in  sickness  at  home,  he  said  :  '  You  can  not  guess,  Doctor,  how 
I  have  passed  some  of  the  tedious  hours  on  my  cot.'  Pausing 
for  a  moment,  he  continued :  '  I  have  been  trying  Jefferson 
Davis  for  high-treason.  I  have  gone  through  the  whole  formu 
la  with  all  the  solemnity  of  a  great  State  trial;  the  court  prop 
erly  constituted,  the  jury  impaneled,  and  the  prisoner  arraign 
ed,  the  latter  answering  to  all  counts  in  the  indictment,  "  Not 
guilty." 

" '  In  opening  the  case  for  the  United  States,  I  took  occasion 
to  assure  the  court  that  I  would  economize  its  valuable  time  so 
far  as  the  prosecution  was  concerned,  and  close  the  case  of  the 
State  in  half  an  hour. 

" '  The  first  witness  called  to  the  stand  was  General  Long- 
street,  who,  having  been  duly  sworn,  stated,  in  answer  to  an  in 
terrogatory,  that  he  had  commanded  the  armed  forces  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy  who  had  invaded  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Washington  had  killed 
and  wounded  more  than  one  hundred  Union  soldiers,  and  that 
in  so  acting  he  had  but  obeyed  the  order  of  the  chief  command 
er,  General  R.  E.  Lee.  Waiving  further  question  the  witness 
was  discharged,  and  General  Lee  called  and  duly  sworn,  who 
testified  as  to  his  position  in  the  Confederate  service,  his  direc 
tions  to  Longstreet,  and  his  subordination  to  Jefferson  Davis, 
president  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
Confederate  States,  from  whom  he  had  received  instructions  to 
invade  Maryland  and  the  District  for  the  purposes  carried  out 
by  his  lieutenant-general.  At  this  point  I  closed  and  rested 
my  case.  After  hearing  the  defense,  and  without  a  word  of  ar 
gument,  I  asked  the  jury  to  render  a  verdict  of  guilty.  His 
fate  was  then  sealed.  The  defense  of  want  of  jurisdiction — too 


90  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

late  in  presenting,  and  weak  if  entertained — left  the  prisoner's 
counsel  to  a  silent  submission,  and  he  was  duly  convicted. 

" '  Yet  in  mercy  I  looked  at  the  matter  in  another  light,  and 
to  that  end  constituted  myself  the  leading  advocate  of  the  pris 
oner.  After  solemn  arraignment,  the  calm,  worn,  but  inflexible 
offender,  who  did  not  appear  to  shrink  from  the  bloody  conse 
quences  of  his  acts,  or  tremble  at  his  own  peril,  following  my 
judgment  and  counsel  as  his  only  hope  for  the  future,  to  the 
question  put  in  the  ponderous  tones  of  the  clerk—"  Guilty  or 
not  guilty  ?"  said :  "  May  it  please  the  court,  I  answer  guilty  ! 
not  morally,  but  politically  guilty.  Permit  me  to  say  further,  the 
first  lessons  that  fell  on  my  ears  at  the  hearthstone  of  my  father 
— the  first  political  teachings  received  at  the  feet  of  the  wise 
and  learned  men  of  the  academy  and  the  university,  and  vindi 
cated  by  the  universal  sentiment  of  those  with  whom  I  mingled 
in  Southern  homes,  comprehended  the  doctrines  inculcated  by 
the  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798,  teaching  allegiance  as  first  due 
to  the  sovereignty  of  my  State,  subordinating  that  of  the  Gen 
eral  Government. 

" ' "  This  may  in  your  wisdom,  and  in  the  judgment  of  the 
world,  be  determined  a  high  crime ;  but  I  submit  that  it  was 
done  in  the  faith  of  the  right,  and  with  the  belief,  however  mis 
guided,  of  conscientious  duty. 

" '  "I  therefore  throw  myself  on  the  judgment  of  the  court,  and 
ask  its  merciful  recommendation  to  pardon." 

" '  I,'  said  the  Judge,  '  felt  that  this  was  his  only  chance  of 
escape. 

" '  Thus  I  have  been  filling  up  my  time,  dreaming  myself  away 
in  the  sturdy  hope  for  an  early  return  of  fraternal  feeling  among 
the  States.' " 

Standing  on  the  very  verge  of  the  grave,  after  an  eighty 
years'  buffet  with  the  world,  pleasantly  rehearsing  the  line  of 
thought  that  had  engaged  his  last  hours,  forgetting  his  weari 
ness  and  weakness  in  first  grasping  treason  by  the  throat,  and 


DECORATION   DAY.  91 

then  turning  from  the  sacrifice  and  counseling  such  frank  ac 
knowledgment  as  could  not  fail  to  reach  the  magnanimity  of  the 
authorities  so  deeply  offended — such  was  the  loved,  not  fault 
less,  sage  of  "Homewood"  during  the  fortnight  that  transpired 
before  the  "golden  bowl  was  broken,"  or  the  flowers  of  his  own 
choice  placed  upon  his  bier. 

"  Stronger  by  weakness,  wiser  men  become, 
As  they  draw  near  to  their  eternal  home ; 
Leaving  the  old,  both  worlds  at  once  they  view, 
They  stand  upon  the  threshold  of  the  new." 

[May  28, 1871.] 


XXI. 

CALLED  to  Washington  on  official  business,  I  find  myself  this 
warm  and  breezy  morning  of  the  3oth  of  May  seated  at  the 
open  window  of  my  old  room  in  the  Mills  House,  once  more 
looking  over  into  the  sacred  grounds  of  Arlington,  where  twen 
ty  thousand  Union  soldiers  sleep  their  last  sleep,  and  silently 
yet  sternly  sentinel  the  Capitol  they  saved.  And  this  is  Deco 
ration  day  !  The  Departments  are  closed  in  honor  of  the  dead 
heroes.  From  Maine  to  Mexico,  wherever  the  grave  of  a 
Union  soldier  is  found,  it  will  be  visited  by  some  Union  man 
or  woman. 

"Such  graves  as  these  are  pilgrim  shrines, 
Shrines  to  no  code  or  creed  confined ; 
The  Delphian  vales,  the  Palestines — 
The  Meccas  of  the  mind." 

The  fervor  with  which  Decoration  day  is  venerated  proves 
the  undying  love  of  our  people  for  their  country.  The  senti 
ment  is  a  conviction  that  grows  with  every  hour,  and  ripens 
only  to  be  renewed  in  freshness  and  vigor.  Decoration  day  is, 


92  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

therefore,  another  Independence  day;  precisely  as  the  abolition 
of  human  slavery  in  1863  gave  force  to  the  abolition  of  British 
surveillance  in  1776.  But  it  was  more  than  this.  It  was  the 
intellectual  disenthralment  of  four  millions  of  blacks  and  thir 
ty  millions  of  whites.  It  revolutionized  the  wicked  work  of 
ages  of  misrule.  It  wrought  in  less  than  nine  years  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  evils  of  almost  as  many  centuries. 

Where  were  we  all  on  the  3oth  of  May,  1861  ?  As  I  ask  the 
question,  Robert  E.  Lee's  Arlington  house  shines  out  white 
from  the  dark  green  foliage  of  the  southern  side  of  the  Poto 
mac,  and  seems  to  answer  :  "  Ten  years  ago  this  day  my  owner 
had  just  tendered  an  unstained  sword,  with  a  troubled  heart,  to 
his  country's  foe.  Ten  years  ago  Abraham  Lincoln,  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  Stonewall  Jackson,  James  Buchanan,  Edward  D. 
Baker,  Howell  Cobb,  John  B.  Floyd,  Lewis  Cass,  Owen  Love- 
joy,  were  living ;  they  have  since  gone  before  the  Great  Judge, 
and  have  answered  for  all  their  mortal  deeds.  Ten  years  ago 
the  thousands  of  slain  around  me,  and  'three  hundred  thou 
sand  more,'  were  active  and  intelligent  men,  useful  fathers,  hus 
bands,  sons,  and  brothers.  But  these  dead  have  left  behind 
lessons  and  warnings  that  will  not  die." 

"  Ah  !  gentlemen,"  said  Frederick  Douglass,  the  really  great 
leader  of  the  colored  race  of  America,  yesterday  afternoon, 
"  who  shall  tell  the  story  of  these  last  ten  years  ?  I  can  not. 
To  me  all  is  changed ;  and  what  an  unutterable,  indescribable 
change !  From  slavery  to  liberty,  from  ostracism  to  equality, 
from  ignorance  to  self-respect,  from  sin  to  schools,  from  the 
lash  to  the  light,  from  the  bludgeon  to  the  ballot,  from  a  coun 
try  bound  in  chains  to  a  nation  robed  in  glory,  from  a  capital 
that  seemed  to  be  rooted  in  despotism  to  a  great  city,  free  and 
wholesome  and  beneficent.  Find  your  orator  to  tell  us  of  these 
marvels.  I  have  no  speech  to  describe,  though  my  heart  cher 
ishes  them  all." 

"  Blessed  be  this  night,"  said  another  of  the  same  race  on  an- 


DECORATION    DAY.  93 

other  occasion.  "Five  times  have  I  been  sold  into  slavery 
in  Washington  —  three  times  on  the  block,  and  twice  with  the 
ball  and  chain  on  my  feet ;  and  now  I  am  free,  and  all  my  chil 
dren,  and  their  children's  children." 

And  what  could  John  M.  Langston,  the  law  professor  of  the 
Howard  University,  say?  The  son  of  a  gentleman  of  Virginia 
by  his  own  slave,  he  lives  to  represent  the  intellect  of  his  father 
as  his  accepted  offspring,  and  to  honor  and  bless  his  mother. 

But  on  this  sacred  day  other  memories  are  revived.  I  recall 
as  I  write  the  face,  the  form,  the  character,  and  history  of  James 
S.  Jackson,  of  Kentucky,  who  sleeps  with  the  blessed  Union 
martyrs.  The  readers  of  these  hasty  anecdotes  will  perhaps 
recollect  my  reference  to  him  on  the  night  of  my  Mazeppa 
speech  on  Missouri  Avenue,  after  I  had  been  elected  Clerk  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  in  December  of  1859.  Jackson 
was  afterward  a  Whig  Representative  in  the  Thirty-seventh  Con 
gress  from  Kentucky,  and  when  elected  was  about  forty.  He 
was  chosen  as  a  pro-slavery  man,  with  intense  attachment  to 
Henry  Clay,  John  J.  Crittenden,  and  the  old  leaders  of  that 
school  of  politics,  but  also  with  intense  attachment  to  the 
Union.  I  never  met  him  until  I  met  him  as  a  Representative 
in  the  great  Congress  preceding  the  rebellion.  His  genial  nat 
ure,  his  extremely  handsome  face  and  athletic  form,  his  elo 
quence  of  speech  and  magnetism  of  manner,  attracted  me ;  and 
yet,  although  somewhat  differing  in  politics — he  as  the  ideal  of 
the  old  Whig  Party  in  its  best  days,  and  I  as  the  ideal  of  the 
better  days  of  the  Democracy — we  coalesced  in  ardent  devo 
tion  to  the  Union.  He  was  against  me  for  Clerk,  yet  he  was 
glad  I  was  elected — not  because  he  cared  for  me,  but  because 
he  desired  to  rebuke  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  whose 
course  on  the  Kansas  Question  he  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce 
as  unutterably  bad. 

On  this  Decoration  day,  as  I  look  out  upon  Arlington 
Heights  and  hear  the  guns  thundering  over  the  graves  of  those 


94  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

who  perished  that  their  country  might  live,  I  think  of  handsome 
Jackson,  and  of  an  incident  related  to  me  by  one  of  his  devoted 
Kentucky  friends,  now  holding  a  high  and  honorable  position 
under  General  Grant's  administration.    Jackson  left  his  seat  in 
the  House  to  offer  his  life  to  the  Republic.     In  doing  ttrislie 
felt  that  he  was  separating  from  many  near  and  dear  friends 
in  Kentucky,  all  of  whom,  equally  devoted  to  the  Umon,  were 
also  devoted  to  slavery.     He  had  served  several  months  in  the 
war  when  slavery  was  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
His  old  associates,  believing  they  could  swerve  him  from  his 
fidelity  to  his  country,  conceived  that  emancipation  would  great 
ly  disappoint  him,  and  one  of  their  number  wrote  him  a  letter, 
stating  now  that  the  Yankees  had  shown  that  this  was  simply 
an  abolition  war,  he  ought  to  leave  the  "  Federal "  army  and 
come  over  to  his  old  friends,  in  which  case  a  better  position 
awaited  him.     This  letter,  owing  to  circumstances  unnecessary 
to  relate  here,  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  brave  wife,  a  Kentucky 
woman.     She  was  so  indignant  at  the  attempt  to  debauch  her 
husband  that  she  tore  it  up,  but  immediately  after,  believing 
that  he  had  better  see  it,  womanlike,  gathered  the  fragments 
and  sent  the  missive  forward  to  her  husband.     He  received  it 
in  the  company  of  friends,  laughed  heartily  at  it,  and  referred 
to  the  Confederate  who  had  written  it  as  a  capital  good  fel 
low,  but  as  one  who  had  wholly  misunderstood  his  character. 
Among  those  who  heard  of  the  letter  was  the  well-known  Brig 
adier-General  William  Nelson,  subsequently  killed  by  General 
Jefferson  C.  Davis  in  a  personal  rencontre  at  the  Gait  House, 
in  Louisville,  on  the  2Qth  of  September,  1862.     Nelson  remark 
ed,  after  the  letter  to  Jackson  had  been  read,  that  the  writer 
seemed  to  know  his  man  or  he  never  would  have  written  it. 
This  observation  was  reported  to  Jackson  by  some  convenient 
friend,  who  belonged  to  the  order  of  men  who  always  report 
unpleasant  remarks,  and  resulted  in  a  challenge  from  Jackson 
to  Nelson.     Nothing  prevented  a  mortal  meeting  but  the  inter- 


JAMES    S.  JACKSON.  95 

vention  of  the  venerable  John  J.  Crittenden,  the  friend  of  both, 
who  came  from  Louisville  to  the  camp  and  stepped  between  the 
young  Hotspurs.  But  they  never  spoke  until  after  one  of  the 
subsequent  battles,  in  which  Nelson  displayed  almost  superhu 
man  bravery.  Jackson's  cavalry  regiment  could  not  be  called 
into  the  fight,  and  he  lay  chafing  at  a  distance  from  the  field. 
But  when  he  came  into  camp  and  found  that  praise  of  his  ad 
versary  was  in  the  mouth  of  every  soldier,  he  rushed  up  to  him, 
and  threw  his  arms  around  his  neck,  and  said  :  "  I  never  can  be 
the  enemy  of  a  man  who  has  fought  so  bravely  for  the  old  flag." 
They  both  died  in  1862 — Jackson  at  the  head  of  his  regiment 
in  the  battle  of  Perryville,  Kentucky,  and  Nelson,  as  I  have 
said,  by  the  hands  of  Jefferson  C.  Davis,  a  brave  and  noble  sol 
dier,  now  in  New  York,  whom  Nelson  had  grossly  insulted. 
Jackson  and  Nelson  were  both  men  of  strong  convictions ;  they 
were  men  of  storm  and  tempest,  but  of  noble  hearts ;  they 
loved  Clay,  Crittenden,  Breckinridge,  Preston,  and  Prentice  of 
the  Louisville  Journal.  To  go  into  the  Union  cause  against 
all  their  social  prejudices  and  friends  was  a  great  struggle,  but 
go  they  did.  They  died  young,  but  they  had  lived  a  long  ex 
perience.  Nelson  was  a  commander  in  the  navy,  and  died  a 
brevet  major-general  in  the  army.  Jackson  had  just  got  into 
Congress  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  died  before  he  finished 
his  Congressional  career. 

[June  4, 1871.] 


XXII. 

LOOKING  back  along  more  than  half  a  century  of  the  varied, 
brilliant,  and  useful  works  of  Adolphe  Thiers,  the  present  virtual 
head  of  the  French  government,  who  is  now  seventy-four  years 
old,  the  thought  occurred  to  me  what  an  interesting  chapter 


96  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

could  be  written  of  other  venerable  men  still  living.  Brougham 
lived  to  his  ninetieth,  and  Palmerston  survived  to  his  eighty- 
first  year.  Earl  Russell  is  eighty.  Lyndhurst  died  in  his  nine 
ty-first  year.  The  French  historian  and  publicist,  Guizot,  is 
eighty-four.  The  civic  and  martial  chieftains  of  Germany,  who 
figured  most  prominently  in  the  late  terrific  campaign,  are  many 
of  them  very  old. 

Philadelphia  has  an  unusual  share  of  remarkable  men  still 
living  between  seventy  and  eighty,  and  a  number  even  beyond 
that  great  age.  The  posterity  of  the  well-known  merchant, 
Daniel  Smith,  presents  a  record  rarely  paralleled.  The  mother 
died  in  1799,  leaving  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  liv 
ing.  The  oldest  brother,  James  S.,  died  in  1861,  in  his  eighty- 
first  year.  Francis  Gurney  Smith  is  still  living,  in  his  eighty- 
eighth  year ;  also  Richard  S.  Smith,  president  of  the  Union 
Mutual  Insurance  Company,  who  will  be  eighty-two  in  August ; 
Daniel  Smith,  Jr.,  was  eighty  last  February ;  William  S.  Smith 
is  seventy-nine  ;  and  Charles  S.  Smith,  seventy-two  in  April. 
Mrs.  Poulson,  the  sister,  died  last  year,  aged  seventy-six.  The 
six  brothers  have  lived  over  fifty  years  each  with  their  wives. 
They  have  lived  blameless,  useful,  and  honorable  careers  as 
merchants  and  as  leaders  in  great  public  works.  What  is  most 
delightful  of  all  is  that  the  wives  of  four  of  these  gentlemen  sur 
vive  at  nearly  the  same  age  as  themselves.  They  have  all  cel 
ebrated  their  "golden  weddings."  It  is  not  often  that  a  single 
family  can  present  such  longevity  and  such  unstained  and  even 
distinguished  reputations.  Like  their  ancestors,  they  are  true- 
hearted  Philadelphians;  and  he  who  would  gather  some  of  the 
most  interesting  memoirs  of  the  city  founded  by  William  Penn, 
could  do  nothing  better  than  to  interview  the  eldest  of  these 
five  brothers  at  his  residence  on  Pine  Street,  Philadelphia.  I 
have  several  times  referred  to  Horace  Binney,  in  his  ninety-first 
year — in  his  day  among  the  ripest  and  ablest  lawyers  in  the 
world.  General  Robert  Patterson  is  the  evergreen  of  his  time 


THOMAS  SULLY.  97 

— still  vigorous  in  his  eightieth  year.  Prominent  on  every 
great  occasion,  ready  of  speech  and  wit,  hospitable  in  his  own 
home,  patriotic  and  public-spirited,  one  of  the  most  active  cot 
ton  merchants  in  Philadelphia,  rising  with  the  lark,  working  at 
his  counting-house  without  eating  a  morsel  until  his  dinner 
at  five  in  the  afternoon,  frequently  closing  the  day  as  the  most 
active  and  genial  guest  at  a  social  gathering ;  he  is  a  rara  avis. 
William  D.  Lewis,  former  Collector  of  the  Port,  also  in  his 
eightieth  year,  is  one  of  the  same  school,  preserving  in  his  old 
age  a  youthful  and  generous  heart  and  an  undaunted  spirit. 
He  will  tell  you  of  St.  Petersburg  nearly  sixty  years  ago,  which 
he  visited  as  a  youth,  regale  you  with  incidents  of  Philadelphia 
in  the  olden  time,  and  fill  your  memory  with  anecdotes  of  the 
good  and  great  men  whose  confidence  he  shared. 

Few  persons  know  that  Thomas  Sully,  the  eminent  portrait- 
painter,  is  yet  among  us,  on  the  eve  of  his  eighty-eighth  year. 
The  visitor  to  his  studio  is  impressed  by  the  remarkable  bright 
ness  and  activity  of  the  venerable  man,  who  is  still  inspired 
with  the  true  fire  of  his  art. 

He  was  born  in  England.  Originally  the  family  came  from 
France.  His  father's  name  was  Matthew  Sully.  His  mother 
was  English,  and  came  first  from  England  to  Norfolk,  Virginia, 
in  1794.  Mr.  Sully  took  his  first  lessons  in  Charleston,  from  a 
coach-painter.  He  began  as  a  miniature-painter  when  only 
seven  years  old.  From  Charleston  he  came  to  Philadelphia, 
then  to  New  York,  by  advice  of  Cooper,  the  actor,  then  back 
to  Philadelphia  about  1810,  where  he  has  ever  since  remained. 
He  twice  visited  England,  once  in  1837,  to  paint  Queen  Victo 
ria.  He  also  took  lessons  at  different  times  of  West,  Lawrence, 
and  Stuart,  the  last  named  not  even  surpassed  in  certain  quali 
ties  by  Vandyke. 

Mr.  Sully  is  a  musician  of  considerable  proficiency.  He 
played  the  flute  in  the  orchestra  of  the  Musical  Fund  Society 
for  many  years,  and  he  is  now  its  vice-president.  His  charac- 

E 


98  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

teristics,  as  a  painter,  are  grace,  delicacy,  fancy,  ideality,  purity. 
He  is  still  painting — often  without  glasses.  Many  of  the  great 
men  of  his  day  have  sat  to  him.  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Jackson, 
Adams,  Monroe,  Rush,  Binney,  Cooke,  Cooper,  Kemble — in 
deed,  among  his  sitters  will  be  found  the  distinguished  of  the 
bar,  the  pulpit,  the  stage,  medicine,  etc.  No  collection  is  com 
plete  without  one  or  two  of  his  works.  The  parlors  of  Colonel 
Fitzgerald,  of  Philadelphia,  are  filled  with  the  choice  works  of 
this  master. 

But  none  of  the  men  of  seventy-eight  are  so  interesting  in 
character  as  Henry  C.  Carey,  the  memory  of  whose  father,  Mat 
thew  Carey,  is  recalled  with  affectionate  reverence,  and  whose 
son  may  well  be  styled  the  worthy  son  of  a  worthy  sire.  Liv 
ing  in  elegant  ease  on  Walnut  Street,  near  Eleventh,  Philadel 
phia,  surrounded  by  his  books  and  his  pictures,  honored  and 
loved  by  troops  of  friends,  kind,  generous,  and  social,  busy  with 
his  pen,  and  always  ready  to  converse  with  the  intelligent  of  all 
parties,  Henry  C.  Carey  may  be  said  to  have  outlived  enmity 
and  envy.  His  life  is  in  fact  the  very  best  vindication  of  his 
favorite  theories,  especially  in  regard  to  the  protection  of  Amer 
ican  industry.  Upon  this  doctrine,  so  elaborately  and  for  so 
long  a  period  enforced  in  this  country,  he  may  confidently  rest 
his  fame.  It  has  triumphed  not  only  here  but  elsewhere.  Rid 
ing  the  other  day  with  our  young  railroad  monarch,  Colonel 
Thomas  A.  Scott,  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  I  list 
ened  with  pleasure  to  his  tribute  to  Mr.  Carey,  and  especially 
to  his  statement  that  a  distinguished  gentleman  recently  return 
ed  from  Germany  had  told  him  that  the  works  of  Mr.  Carey  on 
political  economy,  translated  into  German,  were  scattered 
through  the  whole  nation,  and  were  standard  books  among 
statesmen  and  text-books  among  the  people.  They  have  also 
been  converted  into  the  languages  of  other  countries,  so  that 
the  days  of  successful  ridicule  of  his  doctrines  may  be  said  to 
have  passed  away  forever. 


THOMAS    A.  SCOTT.  99 

Mr.  Carey's  pleasant  Sunday  "vespers"  at  his  own  home 
have  been  described  by  others.  Here  he  loves  to  meet  his 
friends  in  the  confidence  of  innocent  social  intercourse.  Here, 
regularly,  for  years  past,  winter  and  summer,  have  assembled 
some  of  the  ablest  intellects  of  the  nation — men  of  different  and 
differing  tastes  meeting  on  the  same  level — the  level  of  tolera 
tion  and  freedom  of  discussion,  and  unity  in  love  of  country. 
Long  may  these  aged  men  survive — ornaments  of  society  and 
examples  of  integrity  and  patriotism. 

[June  u,  1871.] 


XXIII. 

I  HAVE  already  told  you  something  about  the  old  men  of  Phila 
delphia.  Now  let  me  write  familiarly  and  frankly  of  a  younger 
citizen — one  who  is,  perhaps,  as  generally  discussed  as  any  liv 
ing  person.  There  is  a  mystery  about  him  which  is  rather  in 
creased  by  the  fact  that  he  is  a  quiet,  though  incessant  worker 
— not  often  seen,  yet  as  ubiquitous  as  if  he  possessed  the  power 
of  repeating  himself  indefinitely.  I  mean  Thomas  Alexander 
Scott,  vice-president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad,  or, 
as  he  is  every  where  called,  by  high  and  low,  from  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  proletaire — "Tom  Scott."  Filling  a  large  space  in 
large  enterprises,  wielding  immense  resources,  combining  ex 
traordinary  elements,  and  dealing  literally  with  empires,  Col 
onel  Scott  is  still  comparatively  young,  and  qualified,  with  or 
dinary  care  over  his  reserved  forces,  physical  and  mental,  for  a 
long  and  most  distinguished  life.  His  experience  is  another 
illustration  of  the  elasticity  of  our  institutions ;  another  proof 
that  when  the  offspring  of  the  wealthy,  spoiled  and  enervated 
by  over-indulgence,  fail  to  grapple  with  grave  duties  and  respon 
sibilities,  we  can  always  find  fitter  material  in  the  humbler 


100  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

walks,  and  recruit  the  energies  of  the  nation  from  the  sons  of 
those  who  have  been  hardened  in  the  stern  school  of  necessity 
and  toil. 

Thomas  Alexander  Scott  was  born  in  the  village  of  Loudon, 
Franklin  County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  28th  of  December,  1824, 
and  on  his  next  birthday  will  be  forty-seven  years  old.  He  be 
gan  as  a  boy  in  a  country-store  at  a  very  low  salary,  after  hav 
ing  completed  his  education  in  the  one  village  school,  with  the 
one  teacher,  Robert  Kirby,  of  Loudon ;  and  upon  the  death  of 
his  father,  in  1834,  went  to  live  with  his  eldest  sister,  whose 
husband  kept  a  country-store  near  AVaynesborough,  in  Frank 
lin  County,  where  he  remained  eighteen  months ;  then  he  lived 
a  short  time  with  his  brother,  James  D.  Scott,  also  a  merchant, 
at  Bridgeport,  in  the  same  county;  then  with  Metcalf  &  Ritchie, 
merchants  in  Mercersburg.  In  all  these  situations  he  exhibited 
the  same  energy,  and  had  the  confidence  and  respect  of  em 
ployers  and  associates  for  the  ability  and  correctness  now  so 
universally  awarded  to  the  man.  In  all  his  past  history  his 
frank,  honest,  candid,  clear,  and  prompt  manner  in  business 
transactions  has  deservedly  secured  him  the  confidence  and  re 
spect  of  the  business  world — above  all,  his  goodness  of  heart, 
the  measure  of  his  favors  and  charities  being  the  necessities  of 
the  friends.  My  first  recollection  of  him  was  in  Lancaster 
County,  where  he  was  a  clerk  of  Major  James  Patron,  his  broth 
er-in-law,  who  was  collector  of  tolls  at  Columbia,  on  the  State 
road,  under  the  administration  of  Governor  Porter,  I  think,  in 
the  year  1838.  From  this  he  was  transferred  to  the  extensive 
warehouse  and  commission  establishment  of  the  Leeches,  at 
Columbia,  where  he  remained  until  1847,  when  he  came  to  Phil 
adelphia  as  chief  clerk  at  Seventh  and  Willow  Streets,  on  the 
Schuylkill  front,  under  A.  Boyd  Cummings,  collector  of  tolls  at 
the  eastern  end  of  the  Public  Works.  In  1850  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  great  Pennsylvania  Central  at  Duncanville,  as 
their  general  agent  of  the  Mountain  or  Eastern  division.  On 


A    RAILWAY    POTENTATE.  IOI 

the  opening  of  the  Western  division  he  was  put  in  charge  of 
that,  and  there  he  remained  till  he  was  called  to  take  control 
of  the  entire  line,  in  consequence  of  the  ill-health  of  General 
H.  J.  Lombaert,  the  superintendent.  In  1859,  on  the  death  of 
Hon.  William  B.  Foster,  vice-president  of  the  road,  he  was  elect 
ed  to  that  position,  which  he  continues  to  fill. 

There  is  no  romance  in  this  career,  and  yet  how  few  now  liv 
ing  excite  so  much  curiosity  and  attract  so  much  attention  as 
Thomas  Alexander  Scott !  His  rapidity  and  courage  alike  as 
an  administrative  and  executive  officer  have  given  him  a  pres 
tige  known  wherever  a  railroad  is  operated.  It  was  these  qual 
ities  that  induced  the  Administration  to  call  him  into  the  gov 
ernment  service  as  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  after  the  out 
break  of  the  rebellion;  and  those  of  us  who  studied  him  then 
can  well  understand  how  thoroughly  he  deserves  his  present 
high  reputation.  He  was  summoned  to  Washington  early  in 
1 86 1,  at  a  period  when  the  whole  North  was  panic-stricken — 
when  the  capital  was  cut  off  by  the  rebels  lying  between  it  and 
the  Susquehanna.  A  man  of  railroad  genius,  tact,  and  expe^ 
rience  was  imperatively  needed.  Governor  Curtin  wanted  him 
to  remain  in  Pennsylvania,  but  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  and  General  Scott  insisted  that  the  young  vice-president 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Central  should  be  forthcoming,  and  he 
came,  and  effectually  aided  General  Butler,  then  at  Annapolis 
with  his  Massachusetts  men,  to  build  the  road  which  opened 
the  way  and  restored  the  line  of  communication,  and  so  saved 
Washington  from  capture.  He  remained  at  his  desk  in  the 
War  Department,  unless  when  called  off  to  superintend  the  vast 
military  transportation  of  the  army  at  other  points,  until  the 
crisis  was  over,  and  then  returned  to  his  post  at  Philadelphia, 
surrounded  with  the  confidence  and  gratitude  of  every  branch 
of  the  government,  executive  and  legislative.  His  cheerful  and 
buoyant  temper,  his  bright  face,  genial,  gentle  manners,  and, 
above  all,  the  readiness  with  which  he  answered  every  request, 


IO2  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

and  the  grace  with  which  he  would  say  No,  as  he  had  frequent- 
ly  to  do,  proved  that  official  labors  came  easy  and  natural  to 
him,  and  that  the  cares  so  sure  to  break  down  an  ordinary  man 
bore  lightly  upon  him.  It  was  pleasant  to  note  how  quietly  he 
met  the  leaders  of  armies  and  the  leaders  of  the  Senate,  and 
how  in  every  circle,  no  matter  what  the  theme,  he  was  uncon 
strained  and  self-poised.  Perhaps  one  of  the  secrets  of  his 
popularity  was  his  avoidance  of  all  political  discussions.  In 
tensely  attached  to  his  country,  Colonel  Scott  is  claimed  by  no 
party,  and  has  as  many  friends  in  one  as  in  the  other.  His 
early  training  was  among  Democrats,  though  many  of  his  near 
est  connections  were  Old-line  Whigs,  and  are  Republicans. 
As  the  real  head  of  an  enterprise  which  is  gradually  assuming 
more  than  international  proportions,  and  must  depend  for  its 
success  upon  the  support  of  the  whole  people,  he  has  little  time 
to  play  at  the  petty  party  politics  of  the  hour.  He  possesses 
two  inborn  gifts,  uncommon  to  one  who  has  not  seen  the  inside 
of  a  school-house  since  his  eleventh  year — intuitive  mathemat 
ical  perception  and  singular  ability  in  preparing  legislation. 
He  dispatches  business  with  electric  facility.  He  dictates  to 
his  short-hand  reporter  as  rapidly  as  an  expert,  and  when  he 
rises  to  speak  in  any  of  the  business  conventions,  his  sugges 
tions  are  so  many  flashes  of  intellect,  and  his  sentences  short, 
terse,  and  clear.  He  is  happy  in  the  capacity  of  getting  rid  of 
difficult  questions  in  a  moment.  One  subject  dropped  he  seizes 
the  other  at  the  proper  time,  and  is  as  punctual  to  a  promise, 
an  engagement,  or  a  contract,  as  he  is  faithful  to  a  friend. 

Some  time  ago,  in  one  of  the  managers'  cars  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania  Central,  I  sat  by,  a  surprised  and  amused  observer.  At 
every  station  dispatches  would  be  brought  to  him,  which  he 
tore  open  and  promptly  answered,  and  then  resumed  the  thread 
of  the  conversation.  Sometimes  a  railroad  president  or  official, 
belonging  to  another  State,  would  come  in  at  the  door  while 
;he  train  waited,  state  his  case,  and  receive  his  reply.  Some- 


DECISION.  103 

times  a  negotiation  would  be  conducted  between  the  stations, 
and  yet,  at  the  end  of  every  such  passage,  he  would  move  over 
to  me,  where  I  sat,  and  renew  his  pleasant  and  instructive  talk. 

Such  are  some  of  the  leading  traits  of  Thomas  Alexander 
Scott,  or  "  Aleck,"  as  he  used  to  be  called  while  transacting 
business  for  his  friend,  Metcalf,  in  Franklin  County.  It  is  prop 
er  to  add  that  no  man  has  ever  been  more  endeared  to  his  as 
sociates  in  business.  I  wish  I  could  refer  to  instances  of  his 
generosity  to  his  family  and  to  his  friends,  but  this  is  a  subject 
upon  which  he  is  a  little  sensitive,  and  yet  he  never  seems  to 
tire  in  doing  good — never  forgets  the  intimates  of  his  early 
career,  the  men  who  served  with  him  when  he  was  a  clerk, 
agent,  or  superintendent.  Although  overwhelmed  with  engage 
ments,  he  never  allows  a  case  of  suffering  or  misfortune  to  pass 
him  unheeded.  It  deserves  to  be  said  that  in  his  capacity  as 
the  active  head  of  a  gigantic  corporation,  he  has  never  gambled 
with  its  great  interests  at  the  stock  exchange,  never  corrupted 
judges  or  juries,  never  turned  what  belonged  to  others  to  self 
ish  or  mercenary  ends ;  and  it  is  undoubtedly  to  his  exact,  ac 
curate,  and  inflexible  business  principles  that  the  sound  and 
permanent  prosperity  of  the  Pennsylvania  Central  is  chiefly  in 
debted. 

I  conclude  this  hasty  sketch  of  my  old  friend  by  relating  an 
incident  of  his  promptitude.  Some  years  ago,  when  his  pres 
ence  was  necessary  at  an  extraordinary  crisis  in  the  affairs  of 
the  company,  he  started  from  Pittsburgh  on  an  express  train, 
and  found  himself,  after  some  hours'  travel,  obstructed  by  an 
other  train,  which  had  run  off  the  track.  The  debris,  the  frag 
ments,  and  confusion  produced  by  the  accident  would  have  re 
quired  at  least  a  day  for  their  removal.  The  engineers  were  in 
despair.  After  a  moment's  reflection  the  Colonel  directed  that 
the  whole  of  the  wreck  should  be  burned,  and  the  torch  was  ap 
plied  to  the  valuable  machinery,  cars,  and  goods  that  lay  scat 
tered  around.  Of  course  he  made  his  destination;  but  when  he 


104  ANECDOTES   OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

reached  the  company  and  told  his  story,  there  was  some  indig* 
nation  at  what  they  regarded  a  waste  of  property.  Colonel 
Scott  sat  down  and  soon  convinced  them,  by  a  calculation  esti 
mating  the  loss  that  would  accrue  by  the  delay  of  trains,  etc., 
that  he  had  really  saved  a  considerable  sum  by  the  transaction. 
The  brain-work  of  a  man  like  Colonel  Scott  is  immense,  but 
he  enjoys  the  rare  facility  of  dismissing  troublesome  questions 
from  his  mind.  He  never  takes  his  sorrows  with  him  to  bed. 
When  his  day's  work  is  done  he  retires  with  a  sunny  face  to  his 
home,  enjoys  the  society  of  his  family,  plays  croquet  or  whist, 
rides  around  the  park,  looks  in  at  the  opera,  and  now  and  then 
mingles  with  a  company  of  his  friends.  Of  simple  habits  and 
refined  tastes,  he  ought  to  live  a  long  life.  That  he  may  so  live 
is  my  sincere  and  earnest  prayer. 

[June  1 8, 1871.] 


XXIV. 

A  FASCINATING  volume  might  be  written  of  the  men  who  were 
identified  with  Government  newspapers  in  Washington  under 
the  old  regime,  beginning  with  Joseph  Gales  and  William  Win 
ston  Seaton,  and  running  on  to  Duff  Green,  Amos  Kendall,  Fran 
cis  P.  Blair,  John  C.  Rives,  Thomas  Ritchie,  Robert  Armstrong, 
A.  O.  P.  Nicholson,  Roger  A.  Pryor,  Charles  Eames,  Wm.  M. 
Overton,  George  S.  Gideon,  Simeon  M.  Johnson,  William  M. 
Browne,  George  W.  Bowman,  Alexander  C.  Bullet,  and  others. 
Of  this  long  list  those  who  survive  are  Duff  Green,  now  at  a 
very  advanced  age ;  Francis  P.  Blair,  the  generous  host  at  Sil 
ver  Spring,  Maryland,  near  Washington  ;  A.  O.  P.  Nicholson, 
residing  at  Columbia,  Tennessee ;  George  S.  Gideon  and  Sim 
eon  M.  Johnson,  of  Washington  ;  Roger  A.  Pryor,  practicing 
law  in  New  York ;  George  W.  Bowman,  Pennsylvania,  and  Will- 


JOURNALISM    IN   WASHINGTON.  105 

iam  M,  Browne,  who  was  in  the  South  when  last  heard  from. 
All  the  papers  with  which  they  were  connected  have  passed  out 
of  existence  excepting  The  Globe,  now  the  almost  exclusive  rec 
ord  of  Congressional  debates,  published  by  F.  &  J.  Rives  and 
George  A.  Bailey,  to  whom  it  is  a  source  of  enormous  revenue. 
In  former  times  what  was  called  the  national  organ  was  liber 
ally  sustained  by  the  advertising  and  the  printing  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  the  proprietors,  who  ought  to  have  grown  rich, 
were  most  generous  in  the  treatment  of  their  editors.  It  is  a 
grave  question  whether  there  has  been  any  actual  saving  by  di 
vorcing  the  public  printing  from  the  press.  Certain  it  is  that 
ever  since  newspapers  at  Washington  have  had  to  depend  upon 
their  own  energies  they  have  had  a  hard  struggle.  Several  at 
tempts  have  been  made  to  build  upon  the  great  profits  of  The 
Congressional  Globe  a  permanent  organ,  representing  the  polit 
ical  party  in  the  possession  of  the  Government  for  the  time  be 
ing,  but  they  have  failed  in  succession ;  yet  I  do  not  doubt  that 
if  ever  the  Democracy  get  control  of  the  Government  they  will 
accomplish  precisely  what  the  Republicans  have  not  had  the 
courage  or  strength  to  carry  through.  No  class  of  men  do 
harder  work  for  less  pay  than  the  political  writers  at  Washing 
ton,  and  none,  if  properly  sustained,  can  exert  a  wider  or  better 
influence.  Proprietors  of  newspapers  at  the  national  capital 
must  now  spend  vast  sums  of  money  for  editorial  assistance, 
news,  correspondence,  etc.,  yet  their  incomes  are  comparatively 
small.  They  have  no  large  population  around  them,  and  as 
yet  no  active,  progressive  States  south  of  them.  If  the  old  sys 
tem  were  resumed,  or  another  adopted  by  which,  under  proper 
regulations,  the  profits  of  the  public  printing  could  be  secured 
to  the  organ  of  the  party  in  the  majority,  I  have  not  the  slight 
est  doubt  the  treasury  would  be  the  gainer  in  the  end.  Abun 
dant  experience  has  shown,  at  least  in  this  country,  that  when 
ever  Government  undertakes  to  carry  on  business  which  be 
longs  to  individuals,  it  does  so  at  a  dead  loss. 

E  2 


106  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

When  James  K.  Polk  was  elected  President,  in  1844,  he  re 
solved,  under  the  advice  of  the  Southern  politicians,  to  super 
sede  the  old  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  firm  of  Blair  &  Rives,  and 
to  invite  the  veteran  Thomas  Ritchie,  for  many  years  the  editor 
of  the  ancient  Virginia  organ,  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  to  assume 
the  responsibility  of  defending  the  measures  of  his  Administra 
tion.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  anti-slavery  inclining  of 
Mr.  Blair  was  the  motive  for  this  change.  Martin  Van  Buren 
had  twice  offended  the  Southern  Democracy — once  when  in  his 
inaugural,  in  1837,  he  declared  in  favor  of  the  constitutionality 
of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  again 
when  he  pronounced  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  in  1843. 
Renominated  in  1840,  and  defeated  by  General  Harrison,  his 
name  was  again  presented  as  a  candidate  in  1844 ;  but  his  Texas 
letter  raised  a  host  of  enemies  against  him  in  the  National  Con 
vention  of  that  year,  who,  after  a  long  and  harassing  contest, 
united  upon  James  K.  Polk — the  Blairs,  the  Riveses,  the  Ben- 
tons,  the  Tappans,  the  Aliens,  the  Hoffmans,  and  the  Silas 
Wrights  all  ranged  on  the  side  of  the  New  York  statesman. 
The  new  Tennessee  President  felt  that  his  Administration 
would  not  be  heartily  supported  by  men  who  had  sympathized 
with  Van  Buren  in  regard  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  and  in  opposition  to  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
and  hence  he  called  for  the  services  of  Father  Ritchie.  The 
wound  inflicted  by  this  change  of  national  editors  was  deep  and 
rankled  long.  It  undoubtedly  created  the  Free-Soil  party ;  it 
soured  Thomas  H.  Benton  ;  it  organized  a  fierce  internal  oppo 
sition  to  General  Cass  when  he  was  the  Democratic  candidate 
against  General  Taylor  in  1848 ;  it  vitalized  the  able  and  vin 
dictive  pens  of  Mr.  Blair  and  his  associates  ;  it  put  Prince  John 
Van  Buren  on  the  stump  as  the  advocate  of  his  own  father,  who 
ran  as  the  third  candidate  on  the  Buffalo  platform.  It  did 
much  to  inspire  David  Wilmot  to  offer  the  Wilmot  Proviso  in 
1846.  It  was  one  of  the  early  elements  which  gradually  and 


THOMAS   RITCHIE. 

surely  prepared  the  way  for  the  political  uprising  of  1854,  on 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise — a  convulsion  which 
would  have  become  universal  had  not  James  Buchanan  in  1856 
promised  that  the  people  of  Kansas  should  be  permitted  to 
vote  on  the  subject  of  slavery  without  interruption  or  violence — 
a  promise  which,  broken  in  his  term,  was  avenged  by  the  polit 
ical  revolution  of  1858,  which  destroyed  the  Democratic  party 
effectually,  gave  victory  to  the  Republicans,  carried  Lincoln 
into  the  Presidential  chair,  and  so  maddened  the  South  as  to 
drive  it  into  that  rebellion,  the  defeat  of  which  ended  in  the 
complete  and  eternal  abolition  of  human  slavery.  So  it  will  be 
seen  that  so  trifling  a  thing  as  a  change  in  the  editor  of  a  polit 
ical  organ  originated  a  movement  that  culminated  in  the  most 
remarkable  event  of  the  century. 

Thomas  Ritchie,  the  successor  of  the  Blairs,  though  he 
changed  the  name  of  the  national  Democratic  organ  from  The 
Globe  to  The  Union,  was^  nevertheless,  the  unconscious  harbin 
ger  of  disunion.  A  more  amiable,  simple-minded,  honorable 
gentleman,  never  existed ;  but  he  had  lived  too  long  in  a  nar 
row  sphere  to  figure  on  the  national  stage.  He  was  a  consci 
entious  believer  in  the  extreme  doctrine  of  State  rights — the 
kindest  and  most  genteel  old  fogy  who  ever  wore  nankeen  pan 
taloons,  high  shirt-collars,  and  broad-brimmed  straw  hats.  He 
was  the  delight  of  every  social  circle,  not  for  his  wit,  which  was 
dull,  but  for  his  chronic  Virginia  peculiarities.  He  was  the 
Grandfather  Whitehead  of  the  politicians  ;  the  Jesse  Rural  of 
the  diplomats — his  efforts  at  making  peace  between  contending 
rivals  generally  ending  in  the  renewal  of  strife,  and  his  para 
graphs  in  defense  of  the  Administration  awakening  new  storms 
of  ridicule.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  now  happily  exploded 
habit  that  nothing  better  became  an  editor  than  to  be  at  war 
with  his  contemporary;  and  thus  it  was  that  The  Union  was  filled 
with  contradictions  of  accusations  against  the  Administration, 
many  of  which  had  been  invented  by  the  practical  jokers  on 


I08  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  other  side.  Among  these  practical  jokers,  none  was  more 
busy  than  the  German  Austrian,  Francis  J.  Grund,  for  a  long 
time  the  "  Observer  "  of  the  Philadelphia  Ledger,  and  the  "  X  " 
of  the  Baltimore  Sun.  A  versatile  genius,  of  enormous  energy 
and  inexhaustible  resources — a  linguist,  an  orator,  a  conversa 
tionalist,  a  writer  with  few  rivals  in  his  day  and  time — he  was 
a  knight  of  the  Free  Lance,  mingling  with  all  parties  (to  nearly 
all  of  which  he  had  belonged  and  abandoned  in  turn),  he  was 
the  terror  of  public  men.  Welcomed  in  every  circle,  especially 
among  the  diplomatists,  where  his  large  fund  of  information  in 
regard  to  foreign  politics  gave  him  the  entree,  and  where  he 
gathered  stores  of  intelligence  for  the  newspapers  whose  corre 
spondent  he  was,  he  seemed  to  sport  with  questions  that  troubled 
others.  Nothing  gave  him  so  much  delight  as  to  worry  Father 
Ritchie,  and  nothing  worried  Father  Ritchie  more  than  Mr. 
Grund ;  and  I  am  sure  it  can  be  no  irreverence  to  the  memory 
of  the  excellent  old  man  to  add  that  nothing  excited  more  mer 
riment  in  official  coteries  than  the  skill  with  which  the  accom 
plished  German  tantalized  and  taunted  the  high-strung  Virgin 
ian.  For  Mr.  Ritchie,  like  many  other  men,  could  not  realize 
such  a  thing  as  a  practical  joke.  Every  thing  was  serious  to 
him ;  and  it  was  amusing  to  note  how  the  most  trifling  allusion 
to  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  would  quicken  his  facile  pen, 
and  how  he  would  pour  his  almost  unintelligible  manuscript  into 
the  hands  of  the  printer.  He  wrote  much — not  always  clearly, 
but  always  honestly ;  and  when  he  left  the  tripod  to  which  he  had 
been  tempted  by  large  promises,  he  was  neither  as  comfortable 
nor  as  rich  a  man  as  when  he  broke  up  his  household  at  Rich 
mond  to  share  the  gay  society  and  the  heavy  burdens  of  Wash 
ington  journalism.  He  was  too  old  when  he  exchanged  places. 
He  was  never,  though  often  called,  the  flatterer  of  power.  His 
instincts  were  so  pure,  his  relations  to  men  so  honest,  that  he 
could  not  discriminate  in  the  support  he  gave  to  the  Adminis 
tration.  He  believed  so  utterly  in  the  unselfishness  of  others 


A   STORMY   SESSION.  109 

that  he  could  not  understand  that  his  support  of  them  might  be 
characterized  as  sycophancy.  He  reached  Washington  when 
Gales  &  Seaton,  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  began  their  de 
cline,  and,  if  I  understand  aright,  he  sustained  the  kindliest 
relations  to  them.  In  more  than  one  respect  he  has  not  been 
so  fortunate  as  the  illustrious  twain,  who,  like  himself,  have  now 
gone  forth  to  learn  the  great  secret.  He  had  not  a  gentle  and 
graceful  annalist  like  William  Winston  Seaton,  whose  lately 
printed  biography,  from  the  genial  pen  of  one  of  his  own  house 
hold,  may  happily  be  classed,  not  simply  among  the  best  pro 
ductions  of  modern  literature,  but  among  the  most  precious 
tributes  with  which  gratitude  has  crowned  the  well-earned  fame 
of  one  who  was  alike  father,  counselor,  and  friend. 

[June  25, 1871.] 


XXV. 

IT  was  fifteen  years  last  December  since  the  meeting  of  the 
first  session  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress.  Its  business  was 
delayed  from  the  2d  of  December,  1855,  to  the  3d  of  February, 
1856,  by  the  failure  of  the  House  to  elect  a  Speaker.  The  re 
vulsion  produced  by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  in 
the  previous  year,  increased  by  the  Know-Nothing  frenzy,  gave 
the  opposition  large  accessions,  and  made  it  exceedingly  doubt 
ful  who  would  control  the  House.  The  Democrats  had  enjoyed 
a  long  and  almost  unbroken  reign,  and  this  uprising  was  the 
first  signal  of  its  close.  As  Clerk  of  the  popular  branch  of  the 
previous  Congress,  it  was  my  lot  to  act  as  presiding  officer  dur 
ing  the  protracted  contest.  My  position  was  most  peculiar. 
I  had  had  no  experience  in  Parliamentary  tactics — indeed,  there 
were  no  rules  for  the  discipline  of  that  tumultuous  body — and 
I  could  only  rely  on  common-sense  as  my  guide.  I  was  one 


110  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

of  the  editors  of  the  Washington  Union,  the  organ  of  President 
Pierce,  and  the  active  advocate  of  James  Buchanan,  then  Amer 
ican  Minister  at  the  British  court,  for  the  Presidential  succes 
sion,  and  I  was  the  personal  friend  of  Andrew  H.  Reeder,  who 
had  just  been  removed  from  the  governorship  of  Kansas  for 
Defusing  to  join  the  conspiracy  to  force  slavery  into  that  Terri 
tory.  Our  relations  had  not  changed,  and  I  had  earnestly,  but 
vainly,  protested  against  his  sacrifice.  He  was  on  the  floor 
contesting  the  seat  of  J.  W.  Whitfield,  who  had  secured  the  cer 
tificate  of  delegate  from  Kansas.  The  struggle  for  the  Presi 
dency  was  at  fever  heat.  All  the  candidates  had  friends  among 
the  members,  and  the  canvassing  between  them  was  incessant 
The  South  was  wrought  to  the  highest  pitch  of  excitement. 
The  bold  attitude  of  the  Free-State  men  in  Congress  and  the 
country,  the  extraordinary  proceedings  in  Kansas,  the  close 
ness  of  parties  in  the  House,  added  to  the  other  perplexities  of 
my  position.  The  opposition  looked  upon  me  at  first  with  a 
very  natural  distrust,  and  the  Democrats  relied  upon  me  to 
exert  every  influence  to  forward  their  designs.  Nor  was  this 
perplexity  lessened  by  the  fact  that  my  political  associates  were 
generally  in  the  wrong.  Their  hatred  of  my  friend  Reeder  was 
terrible.  He  was  charged  with  every  possible  corruption,  and 
I  soon  found  that  my  unconcealed  confidence  in  him  made  me 
an  object  of  general  distrust  among  the  Southern  leaders. 
Cobb  and  Stephens,  of  Georgia ;  Garnett  and  Edmundson,  of 
Virginia  ;  Rust,  of  Arkansas  ;  Alexander  K.  Marshall  and  Bur 
nett,  of  Kentucky;  Barksdale,  of  Mississippi;  Keitt  and  Brooks, 
of  South  Carolina,  backed  by  Slidell,  Toombs,  Iverson,  J.  M. 
Mason,  Hammond,  Butler,  Wigfall,  Benjamin,  Yulee,  and  C.  C. 
Clay,  in  the  Senate,  with  Jefferson  Davis  in  the  Cabinet,  all  felt 
that  if  the  House  was  lost  all  was  imperiled.  Every  day  the 
same  scene  was  enacted.  Interminable  ballotings,  points  of 
order,  debates,  threats  of  violence  upon  the  Northern  members, 
consumed  two  months  of  the  public  time,  and  at  last  resulted 


ELECTION   OF   SPEAKER.  Ill 

in  the  election  of  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  Speaker,  by  a  vote  of 
one  hundred  and  three  to  one  hundred  for  Aiken,  of  South 
Carolina.  The  opposition  soon  saw  that  I  was  resolved  to  act 
honestly  at  every  hazard,  and  at  this  distance  from  that  embit 
tered  session  I  can  recall  no  one  decision  that  I  would  not  repeat 
under  similar  circumstances.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  last  act 
of  the  drama — the  fierce  assaults  of  the  fire-eaters  upon  my  rul 
ings,  nor  yet  the  ample  and  unanimous  vindication  of  my  course 
as  I  retired  from  a  trying  and  thankless  position.  These  re 
vengeful  men  recollected  all  these  things  when  Buchanan  was 
nominated,  and  demanded  and  secured  from  him  a  secret 
pledge,  before  his  election,  that,  in  the  event  of  his  being  chosen 
President,  I  should  never  be  called  to  Washington  in  any  ca 
pacity.  They  declared  I  was  unsound  on  "  the  peculiar  insti 
tution,"  and  could  not  be  trusted  even  in  the  only  post  to  which 
I  ever  aspired,  that  of  editor  of  the  national  organ,  authorized 
to  enforce  Buchanan's  solemn  covenant  of  justice  to  the  people 
of  Kansas.  He  gave  this  secret  assurance  reluctantly,  and  of 
course  without  my  knowledge ;  and  he  kept  it  faithfully.  "  There 
is  a  destiny  that  shapes  our  ends,"  and  that  which  I  believed  at 
the  time  an  act  of  unspeakable  perfidy,  proved  to  be  a  blessing 
to  me  and  mine.  It  threw  me  upon  my  own  resources,  made 
me  an  independent  journalist,  and  enabled  me  to  convince  my 
fellow-citizens  that  I  could  live  without  party  patronage. 

Of  the  extreme  men  in  that  stormy  interval,  Cobb,  Keitt, 
Brooks,  Barksdale,  Garnett,  Soule,  Burnett,  Butler,  James  M. 
Mason,  have  gone  to  their  long  account.  Slidell,  Benjamin, 
and  Wigfall  are  still,  I  believe,  in  foreign  lands.  Toombs,  Da 
vis,  and  Stephens,  having  failed  in  one  great  act  of  treason,  are 
busily  engaged  in  the  work  of  destroying  the  Democratic  party, 
an  enterprise  in  which  they  promise  to  be  more  successful. 

[July  2, 1871.] 


112  ANECDOTES  OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


XXVI. 

THE  short  career  of  Felix  Grundy  McConnell,  of  Alabama, 
who  died  by  his  own  hand  in  Washington,  D.C.,  in  September, 
1846,  in  his  thirty-seventh  year,  was  in  some  respects  a  memor 
able  one.  He  was  a  singularly  handsome  man,  and  possessed 
abundant  animal  spirits  and  a  native  wit  that  made  him  popular 
with  all  parties.  His  speeches  were  not  numerous,  but  were 
original  and  forcible.  He  was  elected  to  two  Congresses,  but 
had  not  served  out  his  full  term  when  he  died.  When  James 
K.  Polk  was  inaugurated  President,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1845, 
one  of  his  first  visitors  was  McConnell,  and  I  shall  never  forget 
the  way  he  introduced  himself:  "I  have  called  to  pay  you  my 
respects,  Mr.  President,  and  to  say  that  if  you  believe  in  the 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions,  love  the  Union,  and  follow 
in  the  footsteps  of  Captain  Andrew  Jackson,  of  Tennessee,  now 
at  the  Hermitage  preparing  to  go  to  Heaven,  then,  sir,  I  hang  my 
hammer  on  your  anvil."  Though  too  careless  of  himself,  he 
had  many  sterling  traits.  Once,  in  a  bar-room  of  the  National 
Hotel,  he  heard  an  infidel  blaspheming  the  Bible.  "  Stop,  sir," 
said  the  angry  Felix — "  stop !  I  am  not  a  good  man,  but  my 
mother  used  to  read  the  Bible  to  me,  and  prayed  that  I  might 
always  believe  in  it ;  and  d — n  me  if  I  will  ever  allow  any  body 
to  attack  it  in  my  presence !  It  must  be  all  right,  for  it  was 
her  guide  and  comfort." 

Of  another  type  was  Dixon  H.  Lewis,  Representative  in  Con 
gress  from  the  same  State  from  1829  to  1843,  anc^  United  States 
Senator  from  1844  to  October  of  1848,  when  he  died  in  New 
York.  He  was  the  largest  man  I  ever  saw.  A  chair  for  his 
especial  use  had  to  be  made,  and  few  public  conveyances  could 
accommodate  him.  He  was  a  man  of  first-rate  talents,  a  forcible 
speaker,  a  sound  lawyer,  and  a  close  reasoner.  Mr.  Calhoun 
had  no  more  devoted  follower  or  friend.  He  was  a  sincere  be- 


MIKE   WALSH.  113 

liever  in  the  whole  theory  of  State  rights  and  secession.  Ami 
able,  and  generous  to  a  fault,  he  was  sensitive  in  regard  to  his 
enormous  size,  which  undoubtedly  shortened  his  life.  He  died 
aged  forty-six,  having  been  in  Congress  a  continuous  term  of 
nineteen  years.  Once,  on  his  return  from  Washington,  the 
steamer  in  which  he  was  a  passenger  was  wrecked.  The  small 
boat  was  ordered  out,  but  he  refused  to  enter  it,  fearing  that  his 
huge  weight  would  jeopard  the  safety  of  others.  After  they 
were  saved  he  was  rescued,  but  for  a  time  he  was  in  great 
danger. 

Not  unlike  McConnell  was  Mike  Walsh,  of  New  York.  Born 
in  Youghall,  Ireland,  and  brought  to  this  country  when  a  child, 
he  spent  his  boyhood  as  a  wanderer.  His  newspaper,  The 
Subterranean,  printed  in  New  York,  was  the  terror  of  the  poli 
ticians,  and  finally  cost  him  an  imprisonment  of  two  years  for 
libel,  but  this  punishment  increased  his  popularity,  and  he  was 
sent  to  the  Legislature,  and  for  two  years  to  Congress.  I  was 
Clerk  while  he  was  a  member,  and  found  him  full  of  good  im 
pulses.  He  was  a  satirist  by  nature.  Nothing  provoked  him 
so  much  as  a  snob.  He  spared  no  pretender.  He  was  es 
pecially  severe  upon  the  airs  of  the  chivalry  of  the  South,  and, 
Democrat  as  he  was,  he  had  no  patience  with  them.  He  never 
rose  to  speak  without  saying  something  new  or  odd.  He  read 
much  and  wrote  strongly.  He  disliked  Buchanan  and  loved 
Douglas.  A  sad  man  at  times,  nothing  could  exceed  his  bright 
humor  on  occasion.  Had  he  lived,  I  believe  he  would  have 
been,  like  Broderick,  James  T.  Brady,  and  Sickles,  in  hearty 
hostility  to  the  rebellion.  After  he  left  Congress  he  made  a 
tour  of  Europe,  visited  the  camps  of  the  great  contending  powers 
in  the  Crimea,  and  was  for  a  time  the  guest  of  the  Hon.  Carroll 
Spence,  American  Minister  at  Constantinople.  He  reached 
there  from  Sebastopol  penniless,  and  without  suitable  clothing. 
I  have  heard  Mr.  Spence  describe  his  bearing  among  the  polish 
ed  people  of  the  diplomatic  circles.  His  anecdotes  of  men  and 


ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


women,  his  tenacious  memory,  his  genial  nature,  and,  above  all, 
his  dry  and  irresistible  humor,  captivated  them.  Some  of  his 
letters,  written  while  he  was  abroad,  were  unrivaled  in  their  way. 
For  many  years  he  bore  uncontested  sway  in  the  politics  of 
New  York,  especially  in  the  famous  Empire  Club.  He  was  a 
proud  and  honest  man,  and  had  he  shaped  his  course  by  a  more 
moderate  standard,  he  would,  I  believe,  be  still  living.  He  was 
found  dead  on  the  lyth  of  March,  1859.  Peace  to  the  ashes  of 
Mike  Walsh  ! 
[July  9,  1871.] 


XXVII. 

WRITING  about  "  public  men,"  I  am  not  willing  to  exclude 
myself  from  the  opportunity  of  saying  something  about  the  cel 
ebrated  women  who  have  figured  in  American  history.  First 
among  these,  among  my  own  recollections,  was  the  versatile  and 
original  Frances  Wright,  or  Madame  Frances  d'Arusmont,  still 
better  known  as  "  Fanny  Wright,"  a  Scotchwoman,  who  visited 
this  country  in  1818,  1820,  and  1825,  and  died  in  Cincinnati 
on  the  13th  of  January,  1853,  aged  fifty-seven.  She  excited 
much  comment  by  her  leveling  doctrines  and  her  extravagant 
language.  But  she  had  many  followers  and  courtiers,  among 
them  the  still  living  Robert  Dale  Owen.  The  well-known  Amos 
Gilbert  wrote  a  memoir  of  her  in  1855,  two  years  after  her  death, 
entitled,  "The  Pioneer  Woman,  or  the  Cause  of  Woman's 
Rights."  She  was  a  person  of  immense  energy  and  uncommon 
versatility.  The  list  of  her  works  is  something  unusual.  She 
wrote  a  tragedy  called  "  Altorf,"  in  1819;  "Views  of  Society  and 
Manners  in  America,"  which  ran  through  four  editions,  and  was 
translated  into  French,  published  in  1820,  and  republished,  with 
alterations  and  additions,  in  1821  and  1822;  "A  Few  Days  in 


ANNIE   ROYALL.  11$ 

Athens,"  being  a  translation  of  a  Greek  manuscript  found  in 
Herculaneum,  and  a  defense  of  the  Epicurean  Philosophy,  pub 
lished  in  London  in  1822,  and  republished  in  Boston  in  1822. 
These  were  followed  by  a  course  of  popular  lectures,  spoken  in 
all  the  leading  cities  North,  West,  and  South,  and  printed  for 
circulation,  and  running  through  six  editions.  She  was  also  the 
author,  in  company  with  Robert  Dale  Owen,  of  certain  popular 
tracts,  and  in  1844  her  biography  was  published  in  England, 
including  her  notes  and  political  letters.  I  shall  always  remem 
ber  the  effect  produced  by  the  lectures  of  this  indefatigable  and 
really  gifted  woman,  as  she  traveled  through  Pennsylvania 
many  years  ago.  Controverted  and  attacked  by  the  clergy 
and  the  press,  she  maintained  an  undaunted  front,  and  perse 
vered  to  the  last.  That  she  was  a  woman  of  great  mind  is  es 
tablished  by  the  number  of  her  followers,  including  some  of  the 
best  intellects  of  the  country,  and  by  the  repeated  publication 
and  very  general  reading  of  her  tracts  and  essays.  It  is  related 
that  when  she  came  to  her  death-bed  she  recanted  the  most  of 
her  free-love  and  socialistic  theories. 

Very  different  from  Fanny  Wright  was  the  notorious  Annie 
Royall,  who,  died  on  the  ist  of  September,  1854,  on  Capitol 
Hill,  in  the  city  of  Washington.  She  was  the  terror  of  politi 
cians,  and  especially  of  Congressmen.  I  can  see  her  now  tramp 
ing  through  the  halls  of  the  old  Capitol,  umbrella  in  hand,  seiz 
ing  upon  every  passer-by,  and  offering  her  book  for  sale.  Any 
public  man  who  refused  to  buy  was  certain  of  a  severe  phi 
lippic  in  her  newspaper,  The  Washington  Paul  Pry,  or  in  that 
which  succeeded  it,  The  Huntress.  "  We  have  the  famous  Mrs. 
Royall  here,"  writes  Justice  Story  to  Mrs.  Story,  on  the  8th  of 
March,  1827,  "with  her  new  novel,  'The  Tennesseans,'  which 
she  has  compelled  the  Chief  Justice  and  myself  to  buy  to  avoid 
a  castigation.  I  shall  bring  it  home  for  your  edification."  She 
wrote  and  printed  a  great  deal,  but  seemed  to  rely  almost  en 
tirely  upon  her  ability  to  blacken  private  character.  Among 


Il6  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

her  productions  were  "Sketches  of  History, Life,  and  Manners 
in  the  United  States,"  published  in  1826;  the  "Black  Book," 
published  in  1828,  and  continued  in  1829 ;  and  her  "  Southern 
Tour,"  the  second  series  of  the  "  Black  Book,"  which  appeared 
in  1830-31;  "The  Tennesseans,"  a  novel,  and  "Letters  from 
Alabama"  on  various  subjects,  in  1830. 

Mrs.  Royall's  career  was  a  rough  one,  and  she  seemed  to 
live  for  the  purpose  of  revenging  her  misfortunes  upon  others. 
She  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  at  an  early  age  was  stolen  by 
the  Indians,  with  whom  she  remained  about  fifteen  years. 
Shortly  after  her  release  she  married  a  Captain  Royall,  and  re 
moved  to  Alabama,  where  she  learned  to  read  and  write,  subse 
quently  taking  up  her  residence  in  Washington.  Dying  at  an 
advanced  age  in  1854,  she  was  present  during  the  administra 
tions  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  General  Jackson,  Martin  Van 
Buren,  Harrison  and  Tyler,  James  K.  Polk,  Taylor  and  Fill- 
more.  Her  newspapers  were  badly  printed  and  badly  written, 
and  her  squibs  and  stories  more  remarkable  for  bitterness  than 
for  wit.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  industry  and  astonishing 
memory;  but  at  last  she  seemed  to  tire  of  a  vocation  which 
grew  more  and  more  unprofitable  with  better  times  and  milder 
manners. 

There  is  no  better  evidence  of  the  sure  and  permanent  im 
provement  of  the  public  press  than  the  difference  between  the 
lady  writers  of  the  present  day  and  these  two  memorable  ex 
amples.  Correspondence,  and  even  editorship,  has  risen  to  a 
profession  among  educated  women  in  the  United  States ;  and 
with  the  exception  of  a  few,  who  do  not  find  the  circulation  of 
scandal  or  of  socialistic  doctrines  in  any  sense  a  profitable 
pastime,  most  of  them  are  generously  and  substantially  reward 
ed.  No  Fanny  Wright  frightens  the  proprieties  in  the  States ; 
no  Annie  Royall  terrifies  the  statesmen  in  the  Capitol. 

The  female  correspondents  of  to-day  are  welcomed  and  hon' 
ored  in  every  circle.  They  write  generally  from  a  conscien- 


DEMOCRATS    IN    FORTY-FOUR.  117 

tious  love  of  their  vocation,  and  they  are  popular  because  their 
style  is  more  spirituelle  than  the  rough  rhetoric  of  the  trained 
Bohemians.  Avoiding  all  scandal  and  preserving  the  delicacy 
of  the  sex,  they  present  a  contrast  to  the  startling  theories 
of  Fanny  Wright  and  the  rude  vituperation  of  Annie  Royall. 
Their  energy  and  perseverance  are  making  journalism  and  cor 
respondence  a  permanent  vocation  for  their  sisters;  and  as 
the  press  grows  in  influence  it  will  need  all  sorts  of  auxiliaries, 
and  none  will  give  it  more  of  the  variety,  which  is  the  spice  of 
life,  than  the  sparkle,  the  wit,  the  grace,  and  the  impulse  of  in 
tellectual  womanhood. 
[July  16, 1871.] 


XXVIII. 

THE  Democratic  National  Convention  which  met  at  Balti 
more  on  the  zyth  of  May,  1844,  was  one  of  the  most  exciting 
political  conventions  I  ever  attended.  I  was  there  as  a  report 
er  of  my  newspaper,  the  Lancaster  Intelligencer  and  Journal, 
and  had  a  seat  near  the  president,  Andrew  Stevenson,  of  Vir 
ginia,  father  of  the  present  Senator  in  Congress  from  Kentucky, 
and  witnessed  the  struggle  of  the  two -thirds  rule  introduced 
into  the  convention  by  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker  for  the  purpose 
of  defeating  Martin  Van  Buren,  who  was  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidential  nomination  of  his  party.  The  Hon.  Benjamin  F. 
Butler — not  the  present  intellectual  giant  of  that  name,  Repre 
sentative  from  the  Fifth  Massachusetts  district,  but  General 
Jackson's  Attorney-General  from  December  27,  1831,  to  June 
24,  1834,  after  the  retirement  of  Roger  B.  Taney,  who  was  ap 
pointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
— was  Van  Buren's  champion.  Butler  was  at  that  time  a  man 
of  about  fifty  years  of  age,  with  a  handsome,  intellectual  face, 


Il8  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

of  large  reputation  as  orator  and  jurist ;  but  he  was  no  match 
for  the  little  Mississippian.  That  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever 
seen  Robert  J.  Walker.  I  had  read  his  speeches  while  he  was 
a  Senator  in  Congress,  and  knew  a  good  deal  of  his  history ; 
but  I  was  not  prepared  to  see  so  small  and  insignificant-look 
ing  a  person,  nor  yet  for  the  marvelous  power  which  he  exer 
cised  in  the  convention,  and  the  effect  produced  by  his  speech 
in  reply  to  the  Van  Buren  leader.  He  had  not  spoken  twenty 
minutes  before  it  was  evident,  from  the  cheers  of  the  conven 
tion,  that  the  doom  of  the  Kinderhook  statesman  was  sealed. 
James  K.  Polk  received  the  nomination,  which  would  have  been 
conferred  upon  Pennsylvania,  in  the  person  of  James  Buchan 
an,  if  the  latter  had  not  timidly  withdrawn  his  name  from  the 
list  of  candidates,  in  the  belief  that  the  party  was  united  upon 
Van  Buren.  It  is  true  there  were  many  elements  in  Pennsyl 
vania  opposed  to  Buchanan ;  but  he  had  strength  enough  to 
unite  the  South,  and  as  no  man  could  then  be  made  President 
without  the  consolidated  vote  of  that  section,  all  domestic  op 
position  would  have  been  baffled. 

The  wound  inflicted  on  the  Van  Buren  faction  rankled  until 
it  came  to  a  head,  in  1848,  in  the  organization  which  made  him 
a  third  candidate  and  defeated  Lewis  Cass.  Polk  was  elect 
ed,  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  Silas  Wright,  who  consented 
to  resign  his  place  as  a  Senator  in  Congress,  and  to  run  for 
Governor  of  New  York — a  concession  and  a  sacrifice  which 
satisfied  the  Van  Burenites,  and  postponed  their  outbreak  upon 
the  Southern  Democracy  for  four  years. 

No  personage  in  politics  ever  led  a  more  active  life  than 
Robert  J.  Walker.  Born  at  Northumberland,  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  1801,  he  entered  the  University  in  Philadel 
phia,  and  graduated  in  1819  ;  studied  law,  was  admitted  to  prac 
tice  in  1821,  and  became  chairman  of  the  Democratic  commit 
tee  when  only  twenty-two  years  of  age.  He  was  one  of  the  ear 
liest  supporters  of  General  Jackson  for  the  Presidency,  and  ef- 


ROBERT   J.  WALKER.  1 19 

fectually  aided  to  bring  about  the  action  of  the  Harrisburg  Con 
vention,  which  nominated  the  hero  of  New  Orleans  for  that  of 
fice  in  1824.  In  the  spring  of  1826  he  removed  to  Mississippi, 
and  practiced  his  profession  without  taking  any  political  office 
until  ten  years  later,  when  he  was  chosen  a  Senator  in  Congress, 
and  served  until  1845,  when  he  was  called  to  the  Treasury  De 
partment  by  President  Polk.  He  excelled  as  a  writer  for  the 
newspapers,  and  as  a  popular  orator ;  was  capable  of  prodig 
ious  mental  toil ;  had  unequaled  memory,  rare  enthusiasm,  and 
intense  convictions.  Large  reading,  polished  manners,  singu- 
*ar  generosity,  and  simplicity  of  character  completed  the  quali 
ties  of  a  successful  leader.  His  arguments  in  the  Senate  were 
masterpieces.  He  there  brought  to  the  discussion  of  every 
question  all  his  peculiar  powers.  Without  considering  his  free- 
trade  ideas,  which  are  still  the  subject  of  animated  controversy, 
it  is  simple  justice  to  state  that  he  contributed  immensely  to 
many  important  reforms  in  the  public  service.  He  was  the  ad 
vocate  of  a  liberal  land  policy,  the  champion  of  public  improve 
ments,  the  antagonist  of  religious  intolerance,  the  fearless  ene 
my  of  nullification,  and  he  will  perhaps  be  better  remembered 
for  the  part  he  acted  when  he  reluctantly  accepted  the  position 
of  Governor  of  Kansas  in  1857.  Sent  there  by  an  Administra 
tion  which  betrayed  the  solemn  pledge  upon  which  alone  it  was 
elected,  he  was  believed  by  the  pro-slavery  men  to  be  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  their  plans ;  but  sustained  by  his  independent 
secretary,  Hon.  Frederick  P.  Stanton  (still  living  in  Washing 
ton,  where  he  was  born,  and  deservedly  prospering  in  the  prac 
tice  of  his  profession  of  the  law),  he  soon  discovered  that  he 
could  not  second  that  betrayal  without  the  loss  of  his  own 
honor.  He  revolted  from  the  unblushing  frauds  sought  to  be 
perpetrated  in  the  endeavor  to  force  slavery  into  Kansas.  But 
what  Reeder  and  Geary  had  done  under  Pierce  in  the  same  po 
sition,  he  did  under  Buchanan,  with  even  more  courage  and 
effect.  At  that  time  my  paper,  The  Press,  was  in  the  throes 


I2O  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

of  its  first  great  conflict  with  the  pro-slavery  Democracy.  Hold 
ing  Buchanan  steadily  to  the  pledge  of  justice  to  Kansas,  day 
after  day  I  waited  for  the  report  of  Robert  J.  Walker  with  inex 
pressible  solicitude,  and  when  finally  it  came  in  a  telegraphic 
dispatch,  which  he  sent  me  from  the  town  of  York,  Pennsylva 
nia,  while  on  his  way  to  Washington  to  protest  against  the  con 
spiracy  to  which  Mr.  Buchanan  had  surrendered,  I  felt  that  our 
battle  was  won.  Walker's  repudiation  of  the  frauds  in  Kansas, 
which  he  was  solemnly  enjoined  to  assist,  in  a  private  letter 
written  to  him  by  President  Buchanan,  followed  by  his  manly 
resignation  of  an  office  which  he  could  no  longer  hold,  thrilled 
the  people  of  the  whole  country,  and,  in  the  election  which  en 
sued,  aided  to  demolish  the  Democracy  in  nearly  all  the  free 
States.  It  revolutionized  Berks  County  by  electing  the  venera 
ble  John  Schwartz,  in  1858,  by  nineteen  votes,  notwithstanding 
the  Democratic  majority  of  6004  two  years  before,  defeating 
Buchanan's  favorite,  J.  Glancy  Jones,  now  a  citizen  of  the 
State  of  Delaware,  patiently  preparing  to  step  into  the  Senate 
whenever  the  people  of  that  little  Commonwealth  are  ready  to 
employ  him.  It  gave  us  a  Republican  Representative  in  Will 
iam  E.  Lehman,  in  the  first  Pennsylvania  district.  It  gave  us 
a  Republican  in  the  Montgomery  district,  and  it  left  but  four 
Administration  Congressmen  from  Pennsylvania.  It  swept 
New  Jersey.  It  destroyed  the  Democratic  prestige  in  New 
York,  and  almost  changed  the  aspect  of  the  National  House  of 
Representatives.  It  confessedly  paved  the  way  to  the  freedom 
of  Kansas  and  to  the  complete  annihilation  of  the  whole  pro- 
slavery  plot. 

Of  course,  a  statesman  bold  and  brave  enough  to  take  issue 
with  an  Administration  determined  upon  such  a  wrong  could 
not  expect  to  escape  the  persecutions  of  the  South,  and  so,  after 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected,  Robert  J.  Walker  was  found 
among  the  firmest  supporters  of  the  policy  of  his  Administra 
tion.  The  same  lefferson  Davis  who  had  apologized  for  the 


WALKER'S  REPLY  TO  SLIDELL.  121 

repudiation  of  the  debt  of  Mississippi,  was  the  leader  of  a  re 
bellion  founded  upon  the  nullification  doctrines  which  Walker 
had  always  opposed.  Walker's  labors  through  the  press,  on 
the  hustings,  and  in  personal  appeals  against  the  rebellion,  were 
wonderful. 

The  sagacious  Lincoln,  fully  convinced  that  the  war  for  the 
Union  could  not  be  carried  to  success  without  the  aid  of  the 
Douglas  Democracy — and  who  would  have  conferred  upon  Ste 
phen  A.  Douglas,  if  he  had  lived,  one  of  the  most  important 
commands  in  the  army — called  Robert  J.Walker  to  his  aid, 
and  sent  him  forth  to  Europe,  in  1863,  for  the  purpose  of  pre 
senting  our  country's  cause  to  the  people  of  the  Old  World,  and 
especially  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  before  them  incontesti- 
ble  proofs  of  our  ability  to  maintain  ourselves,  and  of  our  inex 
haustible  financial  resources.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  print 
in  the  London  Times  a  caustic  reply  to  John  Slidell,  then  Jeffer 
son  Davis's  Minister  at  Paris,  who  attempted  to  vindicate  his 
master  against  the  charge  of  having  assisted  in  the  repudiation 
of  the  State  bonds  of  Mississippi.  As  I  write  I  have  before 
me  this  magnificent  paper ;  and  now  that  the  great  brain  that 
conceived  and  the  ready  hand  that  penned  it  are  silent  in  the 
grave,  it  deserves  to  be  laid  as  an  enduring  wreath  upon  his 
tomb  : 

"  Here,  then,  are  eight  judges,  all  chosen  by  the  people  of 
Mississippi,  concurring  in  1842,  as  well  as  in  1853,  as  to 
the  validity  of  these  bonds,  and  yet  Jefferson  Davis  justifies 
their  repudiation.  The  judges  of  Mississippi  all  take  an  oath 
to  support  the  Constitution,  and  it  is  made  their  duty  to  inter 
pret  it. 

"The  Legislature  is  confined  to  law-making,  and  forbidden 
to  exercise  any  judicial  power;  the  expounding  this  supple 
mental  law,  and  the  provisions  under  which  it  was  enacted,  is 
exclusively  a  judicial  power,  and  yet  the  Legislature  usurps  this 
power,  repudiates  the  bonds  of  the  State,  and  the  acts  of  the 

F 


122  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

three  preceding  Legislatures,  and  the  decision  of  the  highest 
tribunals  of  the  State.  Jefferson  Davis  sustains  this  repudia 
tion,  and  the  British  public  are  asked  to  take  new  Confederate 
bonds,  issued  by  the  same  Jefferson  Davis,  and  thus  to  sanc 
tion  and  encourage  and  offer  a  premium  for  repudiation.  These 
so-called  Confederate  bonds  are  issued  in  open  violation  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  they  are  absolute  nullities, 
they  are  tainted  with  treason,  they  never  can  or  will  be  paid, 
and  yet  they  are  thrust  on  the  British  public  under  the  sanction 
of  the  same  great  repudiator,  Jefferson  Davis,  who  applauds  the 
non-payment  of  the  Mississippi  bonds,  and  thus  condemns  hun 
dreds  of  innocent  holders,  including  widows  and  orphans,  to 
want  and  misery.  Talk  about  faith,  about  honor,  about  justice, 
and  the  sanctity  of  contracts  ;  why,  if  such  flagrant  outrages,  such 
atrocious  crimes  can  be  sustained  by  the  great  public  of  any 
nation,  small  indeed  must  be  the  value  of  their  bonds,  which 
rests  exclusively  on  good  faith." 

Now  read  the  following  appeal  to  the  English  government 
and  people,  and  remember  that  the  very  men  here  denounced 
are  once  more  engaged  in  an  attempt  to  seize  the  government 
of  the  Union : 

"  The  blasphemous  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  was 
discarded  by  England  in  the  Revolution  of  1688.  The  British 
throne  reposes  now  on  the  alleged  basis  of  the  welfare  and  hap 
piness  of  the  people.  What  form  of  government  will  best  pro 
mote  that  end  ?  This  is  the  only  question.  I  believe  it  is  ours 
— but  only  with  slavery  extinguished,  and  universal  education 
— schools — schools — schools — common  schools — high  schools 
for  all.  Education  the  criterion  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  not 
property.  I  do  not  believe  in  a  government  of  ignorance, 
whether  by  the  rich  or  poor,  the  many  or  the  few.  With  the 
constant  and  terrible  opposing  element  of  slavery,  we  have  cer 
tainly  achieved  stupendous  results  in  three  fourths  of  a  century ; 
and  to  say  that  our  system  has  failed,  because  slavery  now 


WALKER'S  REPLY  TO  SLIDELL.  123 

makes  war  upon  it,  is  amazing  folly.  Why  predict  that,  when 
reunited  and  with  slavery  extinguished,  we  would  bully  the 
world?  Who  were  our  bullies?  Who  struck  down  Charles 
Sumner,  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  the  eminent  scholar 
and  orator,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  for  denouncing  the 
horrors  of  slavery  ?  A  South  Carolina  member  of  Congress, 
while  all  slavedom  approved  the  deed.  Who  endeavored  to 
force  slavery  on  Kansas  by  murder  and  rapine,  and  the  forgery 
of  a  constitution  ?  Who  repealed  the  Missouri  Compromise,  in 
order  to  force  slavery  upon  all  the  Territories  Ci  the  United 
States  ?  Who  are  endeavoring  now  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and 
spread  slavery  over  all  this  wide  domain  ?  Who  conspired  to 
assassinate  the  American  President  on  his  way  to  Washington  ? 
Who  murdered,  in  Baltimore,  the  men  of  Massachusetts,  on 
their  way  to  the  defense  of  the  Capital  of  the  Union  ?  Who 
commenced  the  conflict  by  firing  upon  the  starving  garrison  of 
Sumter,  and  striking  down  the  banner  of  the  Union  which 
floated  over  its  walls  ?  Who,  immediately  thereafter,  announced 
their  resolution  to  capture  Washington,  seized  the  national 
arms  and  forts  and  dock-yards  and  vessels  and  arsenals  and 
mints  and  treasure,  and  opened  the  war  upon  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  ?  There  is  a  plain  answer  to  all  these  questions.  It 
is  the  lords  of  the  whip  and  the  chain  and  the  branding- iron 
who  are  our  bullies ;  who  insist  upon  forced  labor,  and  repudi 
ate  all  compensation  to  the  toiling  millions  of  slaves — who  re 
pudiate  among  slaves  the  marital  and  parental  relation,  and 
class  them  by  law  as  chattels — who  forbid  emancipation — who 
make  it  a  crime  to  teach  slaves  to  write  or  read,  aye,  even  the 
Bible — who  keep  open  the  inter-State  slave-trade  (more  horri 
ble  than  the  African,  making  Virginia  a  human  stock-farm), 
tearing  husband  from  wife,  and  parents  from  children — found 
ing  a  Government  boldly  announcing  the  property  in  man  based 
avowedly  on  the  divinity,  extension,  and  perpetuity  of  slavery — 
these  are  our  bullies,  and  when  they  are  overthrown  we  shall 


124  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

commence  a  new  career  of  peaceful  progress  and  advanced  civ 
ilization.  And  why  sow  the  seeds  of  international  hatred  be 
tween  England  and  America  ?  Is  war  really  desired  between 
the  two  countries,  or  is  it  supposed  that  we  will  yield  to  foreign 
intervention  without  a  struggle  ?  No ;  the  North  will  rise  as 
one  man,  and  thousands  even  from  the  South  will  join  them. 
The  country  will  become  a  camp,  and  the  ocean  will  swarm 
with  our  privateers.  Rather  than  submit  to  dismemberment  or 
secession,  which  is  anarchy  and  ruin,  we  will,  we  must  fight  until 
the  last  man  has  fallen.  If  the  views  of  a  foreign  power  have 
been  truly  represented  in  Parliament,  and  such  an  aggression 
upon  us  is  contemplated,  let  him  beware,  for  in  such  a  contest 
the  political  pyramid  resting  upon  its  apex,  the  power  of  one 
man,  is  much  more  likely  to  fall  than  that  which  reposes  on 
the  broad  basis  of  the  will  of  the  people." 

This  first  article  was  a  bombshell  in  the  ranks  of  the  con 
spirators  sent  to  Europe  to  poison  our  credit  and  blast  our 
fame,  and  it  was  followed  by  a  number  of  even  greater  force 
and  ability,  in  one  of  which  he  said  : 

"Why,  the  legal-tender  notes  of  the  so-called  Confederate 
government,  fundable  in  a  stock  bearing  eight  per  cent,  inter 
est,  are  now  worth  in  gold,  at  their  own  capital  of  Richmond, 
less  than  ten  cents  on  the  dollar  (two  shillings  on  the  pound), 
while  in  two  thirds  of  their  territory  such  notes  are  utterly  worth 
less  ;  and  it  is  treason  for  any  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
North  or  South,  or  any  alien  resident  there,  to  deal  in  them  or 
in  Confederate  bonds,  or  in  the  cotton  pledged  for  their  pay 
ment.  No  form  of  Confederate  bonds  or  notes  or  stock  will 
ever  be  recognized  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  cotton  pledged  by  slaveholding  traitors  for  the  pay 
ment  of  the  Confederate  bonds  is  all  forfeited  for  treason,  and 
confiscated  to  the  Federal  Government  by  act  of  Congress." 

On  the  26th  of  November,  1863,  at  a  great  Thanksgiving 
dinner  of  the  loyal  Americans  in  London,  in  accordance  with 


SLAVERY   ABOLISHED.  125 

the  proclamation  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  which  Robert  J.  Wal 
ker  was  president,  he  used  the  following  inspiring  language, 
which  I  quote,  not  only  to  revive  the  recollection  of  his  great 
services,  but  as  most  pertinent  at  the  present  hour: 

"This  day  has  been  set  apart  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  for  thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God  for  all  the  blessings 
which  he  has  vouchsafed  to  us  as  a  people.  Among  these  are 
abundant  crops,  great  prosperity  in  all  our  industrial  pursuits, 
a  vast  addition,  even  during  the  war,  to  our  material  wealth, 
and  augmented  immigration  to  our  shores  from  Europe.  Our 
finances  have  been  conducted  with  great  ability  and  success  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Chase,  who  has  also  suc 
ceeded  in  giving  us,  for  the  first  time  in  our  history,  a  uniform 
national  currency,  which,  as  a  bond  of  union  and  as  an  addition 
to  our  wealth  and  resources,  is  nearly  equal  to  all  the  expenses 
of  the  great  contest.  [Loud  cheers  for  Mr.  Chase.]  During 
the  present  year  nearly  four  hundred  million  dollars  of  the  six 
per  cent,  stock  of  the  United  States  has  been  taken  at  home,  at 
or  above  par,  while  within  the  last  few  months  European  capi 
talists,  unsolicited  by  us,  are  making  large  investments  in  the 
securities  of  the  Union.  But,  above  all,  we  have  to  thank  God 
for  those  victories  in  the  field  which  are  bringing  this  great 
contest  to  a  successful  conclusion.  This  rebellion  is,  indeed, 
the  most  stupendous  in  history.  It  absorbs  the  attention  and 
affects  the  political  institutions  and  material  interests  of  the 
world.  The  armies  engaged  exceed  those  of  Napoleon.  Death 
never  had  such  a  carnival,  and  each  week  consumes  millions 
of  treasure.  Great  is  the  sacrifice,  but  the  cause  is  peerless 
and  sublime.  [Cheers.]  If  God  has  placed  us  in  the  van  of 
the  great  contest  for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  man ;  if  he  has 
assigned  us  the  post  of  danger  and  of  suffering,  it  is  that  of  un 
fading  glory  and  imperishable  renown.  [Loud  cheers.]  The 
question  with  us,  which  is  so  misunderstood  here,  is  that  of 
national  unity  [Hear,  hear],  which  is  the  vital  element  of  our 


126  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

existence ;  and  any  settlement  which  does  not  secure  this,  with 
the  entire  integrity  of  the  Union  and  freedom  throughout  all  its 
borders,  will  be  treason  to  our  country  and  to  mankind.  [Loud 
cheers.]  To  acknowledge  the  absurd  and  anarchical  doctrine 
of  secession,  as  is  demanded  of  us  here  ;  to  abdicate  the  power 
of  self-preservation,  and  permit  the  Union  to  be  dissolved,  is 
ruin,  disgrace,  and  suicide.  There  is  but  one  alternative — we 
must  and  will  fight  it  out  to  the  last.  [Loud  and  prolonged 
applause.]  If  need  be,  all  who  can  bear  arms  must  take  to  the 
field,  and  leave  to  those  who  can  not  the  pursuits  of  industry. 
[Hear,  hear.]  If  we  count  not  the  cost  of  this  contest  in  men 
or  money,  it  is  because  all  loyal  Americans  believe  that  the 
value  of  our  Union  can  not  be  estimated.  [Hear,  hear.]  If  mar 
tyrs  from  every  State,  from  England,  and  from  nearly  every 
nation  of  Christendom,  have  fallen  in  our  defense,  never,  in 
humble  faith  we  trust,  has  any  blood  since  that  of  Calvary  been 
shed  in  a  cause  so  holy.  [Cheers.] 

*  *  ***** 

"  The  Union  will  still  live.  It  is  written  by  the  finger  of  God, 
on  the  scroll  of  destiny,  that  neither  principalities  nor  powers 
shall  affect  its  overthrow,  nor  shall  '  the  gates  of  hell  prevail 
against  it.'  But  what  as  to  the  results  ?  It  is  said  we  have 
accomplished  nothing ;  and  this  is  re-echoed  every  morning  by 
the  pro-slavery  press  of  England.  We  have  done  nothing! 
Why  we  have  conquered,  and  now  occupy,  two  thirds  of  the 
entire  territory  of  the  South,  an  area  far  larger  (while  overcom 
ing  a  greater  resisting  force)  than  that  traversed  by  the  armies 
of  Caesar  or  Alexander.  The  whole  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
from  its  source  to  its  mouth,  with  all  its  thirty  thousand  miles 
of  tributaries,  is  exclusively  ours.  [Cheers.]  So  is  the  great 
Chesapeake  Bay.  Slavery  is  not  only  abolished  in  the  Federal 
district,  containing  the  Capital  of  the  Union,  but  in  all  our  vast 
territorial  domain,  comprising  more  than  eight  hundred  million 
acres,  and  nearly  half  the  size  of  all  Europe.  The  four  slave- 


STILL   THE   UNION.  127 

holding  States  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri 
are  devotedly  loyal,  and  thoroughly  sustaining  the  Union.  And 
how  as  to  Virginia  ?  Why  all  the  counties  of  Virginia  east  of 
the  Chesapeake  are  ours  ;  all  that  vast  portion  of  Eastern  Vir 
ginia  north  of  the  Rappahannock  is  ours  also.  But  still  more, 
all  that  great  territory  of  Virginia,  from  the  mountains  to  the 
Ohio,  is  ours  also;  and  not  only  ours,  but,  by  the  overwhelming 
voice  of  her  people,  has  formed  a  State  government.  By  their 
own  votes  they  have  abolished  slavery,  and  have  been  admitted 
as  one  of  the  free  States  of  the  American  Union.  [Loud 
cheers.]  And  where  is  the  great  giant  State  of  the  West — 
Missouri  ?  She  is  not  only  ours,  but,  by  an  overwhelming  ma 
jority  of  the  popular  vote,  carried  into  effect  by  her  constitu 
tional  convention,  has  provided  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and 
enrolls  herself  soon  as  one  of  the  free  States  of  the  American 
Union.  [Cheers.]  And  now,  as  to  Maryland.  The  last  steam 
er  brings  us  the  news  of  the  recent  elections  in  Maryland,  which 
have  not  only  sustained  the  Union,  but  have  sent  an  overwhelm 
ing  majority  to  Congress  and  to  the  State  Legislature  in  favor 
of  immediate  emancipation ;  and  Delaware  adopts  the  same 
policy.  [Loud  applause.]  Tennessee  is  also  ours.  From  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  rivers;  from 
Knoxville,  in  the  mountains  of  the  east,  to  Nashville,  the  capi 
tal,  in  the  centre,  and  Memphis,  the  commercial  metropolis,  in 
the  west,  Tennessee  is  wholly  ours.  So  is  Arkansas.  So  is 
Louisiana,  including  the  great  city  of  New  Orleans.  So  is 
North  Alabama.  So  is  Western  Texas.  So  is  two  thirds  of 
the  State  of  Mississippi ;  and  now  the  Union  troops  hold  Chat 
tanooga,  the  great  impregnable  fortress  of  Northwestern  Geor 
gia.  From  Chattanooga,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  great 
geographical  central  point  of  the  rebellion,  the  armies  of  the 
Republic  will  march  down  through  the  heart  of  Georgia,  and 
join  our  troops  upon  the  sea-board  of  that  State,  and  thus  ter 
minate  the  rebellion.  [Loud  cheers.]  Into  Georgia  and  the 


128  ANECDOTES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

Carolinas  nearly  half  a  million  slaves  have  been  driven  by  their 
masters  in  advance  of  the  Union  army.  From  Virginia,  from 
Kentucky,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Tennes 
see,  and  North  Alabama,  thousands  of  their  slaves  have  been 
driven  and  huddled  together  in  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia ; 
because,  if  they  had  been  left  where  they  were,  they  would  have 
joined  the  Northern  armies.  They  preferred  to  be  free  men 
rather  than  slaves ;  they  preferred  to  be  men  and  women  rather 
than  chattels ;  they  preferred  freedom  to  chains  and  bondage ; 
and  just  so  soon  as  that  Union  army  advances  into  the  Caro 
linas  and  Georgia  will  the  slaves  rush  to  the  standard  of  free 
dom,  and  fight,  as  they  have  fought,  with  undaunted  courage  for 
liberty  and  the  Union.  [Loud  applause.] 

"  But  how  is  it  with  the  South  ?  Why,  months  ago  they  had 
called  out,  en  masse,  all  who  were  capable  of  bearing  arms. 
They  have  raised  their  last  army.  And  how  as  to  money? 
Why  they  are  in  a  state  of  absolute  bankruptcy.  Their  money, 
all  they  have,  that  which  they  call  money,  according  to  their 
own  estimation,  as  fixed  and  taken  by  themselves,  one  dollar 
of  gold  purchases  sixteen  dollars  of  Confederate  paper,  which 
must  soon  cease  to  circulate  at  any  rate.  The  price  of  flour 
is  now  one  hundred  dollars  a  barrel,  and  other  articles  in 
like  proportion.  No  revenue  is  collected,  or  can  be.  The 
army  and  the  government  are  supported  exclusively  by  force, 
by  seizing  the  crops  of  farmers  and  planters  and  using  them 
for  the  benefit  of  the  so-called  Confederate  government. 
Starvation  is  staring  them  in  the  face.  The  collapse  is  im 
minent,  and,  so  far  as  we  may  venture  to  predict  any  future 
event,  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  before  the  closing 
of  the  ensuing  year  the  rebellion  will  be  brought  entirely  to  a 
close.  [Hear,  hear.]  We  must  recollect,  also,  that  there  is  not 
a  single  State  of  the  South  in  which  a  large  majority  of  the  pop 
ulation  (including  the  blacks)  is  not  now,  and  always  has  been, 
devoted  to  the  Union.  Why,  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina 


THE   GOOD   CAUSE.  I2Q 

alone  the  blacks  who  are  devoted  to  the  Union  exceed  the  whites 
more  than  one  hundred  thousand  in  number.  The  recent  elec 
tions  have  all  gone  for  the  Union  by  overwhelming  majorities, 
and  volunteering  for  the  army  progresses  with  renewed  vigor. 
For  all  these  blessings  the  President  of  the  United  States  in 
vites  us  to  render  thanks  to  Almighty  God.  Our  cause  is  that 
of  humanity,  of  civilization,  of  Christianity.  We  write  upon  our 
banners,  from  the  inspired  words  of  Holy  Writ,  <  God  has  made 
of  one  blood  all  the  nations  of  the  earth/  We  acknowledge  all 
as  brothers ;  we  invite  them  to  partake  with  us  alike  in  the  grand 
inheritance  of  freedom,  and  we  repeat  the  divine  sentiment 
from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  '  Do  unto  others  as  you  would 
have  them  do  unto  you.'  [Loud  cheers.]  Nor  let  it  be  sup 
posed  that  we,  as  Americans,  are  entirely  selfish  in  this  matter. 
We  believe  that  this  Union  is  the  most  sacred  trust  ever  con 
fided  by  Almighty  God  to  man.  We  believe  that  this  American 
Union  is  the  best,  the  brightest,  the  last  experiment  of  self- 
government,  and  as  it  shall  be  sustained  and  perpetuated,  or 
broken  and  dissolved,  the  light  of  liberty  shall  beam  upon  the 
hopes  of  mankind,  or  be  forever  extinguished,  amid  the  scoffs 
of  exulting  tyrants  and  the  groans  of  a  world  in  bondage. 
[Loud  applause.]  All  nations  and  ages  will  soon  acknowledge 
that,  in  this  contest,  we  have  made  greater  sacrifices  of  blood 
and  treasure  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom  than  was  ever  be 
fore  recorded  in  history.  We  will  have  suppressed  the  most 
gigantic  and  the  most  wicked  rebellion,  a  task  that  could  hav^e 
been  accomplished  by  no  other  government.  We  have  suc 
ceeded,  because  our  institutions  rest  on  the  broad  basis  of  the 
affections,  the  interests,  and  the  power  of  the  people.  No  other 
nation  could  bring  a  million  of  volunteers  to  the  field — [loud 
cheers] — and  millions  more  would  come  if  necessary.  As  a 
result  of  this  war  we  will  extinguish  slavery,  we  will  perpetuate 
and  consolidate  the  Union,  we  will  prove  that  man  is  capable 
of  self-government,  and  secure  the  ultimate  ascendency  of  free 

F2 


130  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

institutions  throughout  the  world.  This,  therefore,  is  a  day  in 
which  all  humanity  may  unite  with  us  in  the  hymn  of  praise, 
and  the  toiling  millions  of  the  earth  join  with  us  in  fervent 
thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God  for  the  approaching  redemption 
of  our  race  from  slavery  and  oppression.  [Loud  and  long-con 
tinued  cheering  and  applause.]" 

Mr.  Walker  was  not  a  member  of  the  Republican  party,  al 
though  he  supported  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1864,  but  he  was  a  patriot 
in  the  largest  sense,  and,  like  many  of  his  school,  after  giving 
half  a  century  of  his  time  to  his  country,  he  died  poor.  A  gen 
erous  government  ought  to  seize  an  early  occasion  to  prove,  at 
least  in  this  case,  that  "Republics  are  not  ungrateful." 

[July  23, 1871.] 


XXIX. 

WE  are  all  the  unconscious  actors  and  spectators  in  the 
world's  theatre.  The  parts  we  play,  and  the  scenes  we  applaud, 
are  the  double  substance  of  the  current  attraction.  In  1844  we 
had  the  drama  of  the  Native  American  riots  in  Philadelphia ; 
in  1854  the  sensation  of  Know-Nothingism ;  and  seven  years 
later  the  tragedy  of  the  rebellion.  And  now,  at  the  end  of  an 
other  decade,  the  curtain  rises  before  the  New  York  outbreak 
of  the  i2th  of  July,  1871.  This  last  is  too  fresh  for  the  histo 
rian,  and  so  we  refer  it  to  the  tribunal  of  time,  content  to  let  its 
seeds  work  their  way  among  the  minds  of  men,  and  sure  of  the 
harvest  for  the  right.  For  as  the  riots  of  1844,  and  the  frenzy 
of  1854,  and  the  tragedy  of  1861-65  were  each  followed  by 
good  results,  so  will  the  last  sad  evidence  of  bad  passions  attain 
its  ultimate  compensation.  In  our  happy  country  our  better 
nature  secures  the  final  mastery.  Evil  men  and  evil  measures 
dominate  for  a  while,  but  they  are  finally  crushed,  inevitably, 
and  without  exception. 


LEWIS   C.  LEVIN.  131 

Leaving  the  authors  of  the  rebellion  to  the  fate  they  deserve, 
it  seems  to  me  a  not  inopportune  task  to  recall  some  of  the 
leaders  of  the  excitements  of  1844  and  1854.  They  are  nearly 
all  in  their  graves ;  but  they  are  keenly  remembered  in  the  light 
of  recent  events.  The  face  and  form  of  Lewis  C.  Levin  rise 
before  me  as  I  write.  In  this  section,  at  least,  for  six  years 
the  uncontested  Native  American  chief,  he  is  conceded  to  have 
been  the  founder  of  his  party.  Born  in  South  Carolina,  on  the 
loth  day  of  November,  1808,  and  dying  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
i4th  of  March,  1860,  he  was  qualified  for  a  longer  career,  though 
it  may  be  claimed  that  in  his  day  he  filled  a  large  space  in  the 
public  eye.  He  had  an  immense  following.  Blending  relig 
ious  with  political  passions,  he  dominated  in  our  conventions, 
electing  himself  and  others  to  Congress,  carrying  most  of  the 
local  officers  in  Philadelphia,  and  erecting  in  the  First  Pennsyl 
vania  district,  now  the  stronghold  of  the  very  Catholics  he  op 
posed,  a  power  that  was,  while  it  endured,  really  invincible. 
Perhaps  the  very  ferocity  of  the  onset  of  Mr.  Levin  and  his  co 
horts  gave  the  sympathy  of  others  to  the  Catholics.  A  fervid 
speaker  and  nervous  writer,  he  was  conspicuous  on  the  open 
platform,  the  Congressional  forum,  and  in  the  public  press. 
Some  of  his  speeches  in  the  House  were  models  of  popular 
oratory.  One  of  his  finest  was  that  of  the  2d  of  March,  1848, 
from  which  I  take  these  passages  : 

"  If  Rome  will  not  come  to  America,  America  must  go  to 
Rome !  This  is  the  new  doctrine  of  an  age  of  retrogressive 
progress.  If  the  Pope  will  not  establish  a  republic  for  his  Ital 
ian  subjects,  we,  the  American  people,  must  renounce  all  the  ties 
of  our  glorious  freedom,  and  indorse  the  Papal  system  as  the 
perfection  of  human  wisdom,  by  sending  an  embassador  to  Rome 
to  congratulate  'His  Holiness'  on  having  made — what?  The 
Roman  people  free  ?  Oh,  no !  but  on  having  made  tyranny 
amiable  ;  on  having  sugared  the  poisoned  cake.  And  for  this, 
the  highest  crime  against  freedom,  we  are  to  commission  an 


132  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

embassador  to  Rome !  Is  there  an  American  heart  that  does 
not  recoil  from  the  utter  degradation  of  the  scheme  ? 

"  The  flood  of  immigration  is  sweeping  its  millions  of  foreign 
Roman  Catholic  voters  over  the  land.  The  past  is  gloomy 
enough,  the  present  awfully  portentous — but  the  future  is  black 
*  with  shadows,  clouds,  and  darkness.'  This  country  seems  des 
tined  to  be  the  grand  theatre  of  Roman  Catholic  power— not 
American  Papistry,  but  the  Papistry  of  Rome,  of  the  Old  World, 
of  Austria,  and  of  the  Pope.  Shall  we  grow  wise  in  time,  or 
shall  we  surrender  our  rights  without  resistance  ?  Shall  we 
make  a  stand  now,  or  a  Government  proposition  to  unite  this 
free  Republic  with  absolute  Rome  ?  or  shall  we  surrender  in  an 
ticipation  of  the  day  of  trial,  and  ask  the  Pope,  in  despair,  to 
fetter  our  hands  before  we  strike  a  blow  ? 

"  Sir,  if  it  be  written  in  the  black  book  of  fate  that  this  great 
Republic  is  yet  to  become  a  dependency  of  the  Court  of  Rome, 
let  us  not  hasten  our  infamy  by  any  premature  weakness,  by 
any  act  that  shall  expedite  our  downfall  or  accelerate  our  bond 
age.  We  are  now  asked  to  become  voluntary  agents  in  en 
thralling  ourselves  ;  we  are  implored  to  send  an  embassador  to 
Rome,  to  have  our  manacles  forged  in  the  furnaces  of  the  im 
perial  city,  under  the  special  care  of  the  Holy  Father,  who  ac 
knowledges  no  human  authority  in  matters  of  government,  but 
who  pleads  a  divine  right  to  bow  down  the  neck  of  a  man  in 
the  dust  and  yoke  him  to  the  iron  car  of  absolute  power. 

"Will  gentlemen  who  propose  to  rivet  this  religious  chain 
think  of  the  future  ?  for  it  is  to  the  future  that  we  are  to  look 
for  bonds,  fetters,  and  disfranchisement  —  that  future  which  in 
a  few  years  will  expand  our  population  to  a  hundred  millions ; 
when  our  wild  Indian  lands,  embracing  Oregon  and  the  far  West, 
shall  have  been  settled  by  foreign  Roman  Catholics  and  their 
children,  all  under  the  guidance  and  control  of  Jesuit  lead 
ers,  bound  to  obey  their  general,  the  Pope's  nuncio,  whose  head 
quarters  are  to  be  the  seat  of  government,  and  that  seat  of 


ANTI-ROMANISM.  133 

government  the  city  of  Washington !  Let  us  imagine  for  a  mo 
ment  all  this  expanse  of  empire,  embracing  some  fifty  or  sixty 
States,  to  be  settled  by  its  proportion  of  the  foreign  slaves  of 
foreign  Jesuits ;  and,  inferring  the  future  from  the  past,  that  they 
have  been  successful  in  extending  their  invasions  upon  the  spir 
itual  and  political  rights  of  the  American  people,  what  would 
be  the  direful  consequences  of  this  dreadful  overshadowing  of 
the  moral  and  intellectual  world  ? 

"Are  the  religious  wars  and  relentless  persecutions  of  fire, 
rack,  and  other  bloody  demonstrations  of  bigotry,  with  which 
Popery  has  deluged  Europe  for  ages,  again  to  be  acted  over 
here,  on  the  fair  and  unstained  bosom  of  our  vast  and  free  Re 
public  ?  Heaven  forbid  this  foul  desecration  of  our  equal 
rights !  And  yet  what  hope  of  exemption  gleams  in  the  future, 
unless  the  friends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  animated  by  a 
sublime  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  their  children  and  the  free 
dom  of  prosperity,  now  combine  to  arrest  the  march  of  Papal 
usurpation  before  it  overspreads  the  land,  and  plants  its  *  gar 
risons'  of  power  deep  into  the  bosom  of  our  valleys,  irresistible 
and  unresisted  ? 

"And  here,  sir,  I  may  be  permitted  to  ask, Why  is  it  that  the 
Jesuits  have  made  such  strenuous  efforts  to  drive  that  Bible 
from  our  public  schools  ?  Why  those  dark  insinuations  of  the 
unfitness  of  Bible  truths  for  the  daily  duties  of  life  ?  We  claim 
for  the  American-born  child  of  the  foreign  Roman  Catholic  the 
same  glorious  privileges  our  own  children  enjoy — to  read,  ex 
amine,  investigate  for  themselves  ;  to  reject  or  adopt  it  as  they 
see  fit,  unawed  by  any  human  power.  Shall  there  be  one  code 
of  morals  for  one  class,  and  another  for  a  higher  or  a  lower 
one  ?  Shall  the  Jesuit  clergy  coin  a  construction  of  the  Bible 
for  the  people  which  the  people  have  no  right  to  test  by  their 
own  understandings,  and  thus  establish  a  human  tariff  for  crime, 
adjusted  by  mere  human  authority,  in  opposition  to  the  com 
mandments  of  God,  and  meet  with  no  resistance  ?  Or  rather, 


134  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

so  far  from  resistance,  the  approving  smiles  and  generous  en 
couragement  of  the  representatives  of  the  American  people  ? 

"  Sir,  we  have  lived  to  see  the  Bible  driven  from  our  public 
schools  and  burned  in  the  public  streets — that  Bible,  so  insepa 
rably  interwoven  with  the  genius  and  spirit  of  American  insti 
tutions.  The  Congress  of  1777  distributed  thirty  thousand  cop 
ies  of  that  Bible  among  the  American  people — that  same  Bible 
that  Mary  gave  to  her  little  George,  whose  precepts  and  whose 
principles  led  him,  at  the  head  of  the  American  troops,  to 
achieve  that  freedom  which  we  now  enjoy.  Do  what  you  may, 
I  tell  you  that  the  American-born  citizens  of  this  country,  at 
least  the  native-born  Americans,  will,  at  all  hazards,  keep  that 
Bible  in  the  hands  of  their  little  Georges  too. 

"  Sir,  we  do  not  protest  against  this  religious  link  between 
our  free  Republic  and  the  Papal  throne ;  a  throne,  unlike  all 
others,  built  upon  power,  spiritual  and  temporal,  political  and 
religious ;  a  throne  which  makes  man  a  slave,  and  transforms 
kings  into  fiends,  priests  into  tormentors,  a  people  into  drones, 
a  country  into  a  desert ;  a  throne  which  extinguishes  the  fire  on 
the  altar  of  domestic  love  in  a  form  peculiar,  fatal,  revolting ; 
snatching  its  votaries  away  from  the  homage  of  nature  to  the 
cold  convent,  the  repulsive  abbey,  the  gloomy  cell  of  the  an 
chorite,  the  horrid  dungeon  of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  demor 
alizing  edict  of  celibacy ;  stirring  up  sedition,  rebellion,  and  civ 
il  war,  as  the  only  means  of  extending  a  power  which  reason 
revolts  from,  and  persuasion  fails  to  diffuse ;  which  mankind 
have  resisted  in  every  age,  at  the  peril  and  under  the  penalty 
of  the  cannon's  mouth,  the  edge  of  the  sword,  the  fire  of  the  fag 
ot,  the  torments  of  the  stake,  and  the  tortures  of  the  rack ! 

"  Sir,  in  the  name  of  the  American  people,  I  protest  against 
this  innovation,  which  would  make  us  a  by-word  among  the  na 
tions.  It  is  almost  an  obsolete  but  still  a  venerated  and  solemn 
custom,  appropriate  to  all  great  and  imminent  conjunctures  of 
public  import,  to  invoke  the  special  protection  of  a  Superior 


HENRY   A.  WISE.  135 

Being,  and,  in  the  same  spirit  that  animated  our  sires  of  1776, 1 
exclaim,  God  save  the  Republic !" 

Parties  reeled,  politicians  changed  and  cowered  before  the 
fiery  eloquence  of  this  daring  reformer,  whose  words,  repeated 
to-day,  have  a  strange  and  almost  prophetic  significance.  I  am 
proud  to  claim  that  I  was  not  one  of  those  who  feared  to  take 
issue  with  his  doctrines,  and  this  the  more  because  now  I  find 
myself  arrayed  against  the  dangerous  dogmas  enunciated  by 
certain  grave  potentates,  and  too  sadly  illustrated  by  their  ig 
norant  and  misguided  followers. 

The  fires  lighted  by  Mr.  Levin  were  subdued  before  othet 
questions,  but  they  were  not  extinguished.  When  he  had  al 
most  passed  from  the  stage  of  politics,  and  the  Democrats  re 
gained  their  lost  power,  they  broke  out  again  in  1854,  extending 
over  a  wider  field,  and  for  a  time  threatening  a  more  permanent 
demolition  of  parties ;  but,  like  its  progenitor,  Know-Nothingism 
was  too  fierce  and  illogical  to  last.  It  died  of  its  secrecy,  and 
when  this  was  dissolved  the  whole  organization  passed  away 
like  an  exhalation.  The  Aaron's  rod  of  anti-slavery  swallowed 
up  all  other  issues,  and  Know-Nothingism  was  lost  in  Seces 
sion,  which  even  in  1854  began  to  project  its  black  shadow,  like 
a  monstrous  demon,  upon  the  scene. 

If  Levin  was  the  master-spirit  who  organized  Native- Ameri 
canism  in  1844,  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  was  the  fearless 
knight  who  did  most  to  put  down  Know-Nothingism  ten  years 
later.  The  two  men  were  marked  antipodes — contrasts  in  de 
meanor  as  in  doctrine.  Levin  was  a  stout  and  well-built  man, 
with  a  sonorous  voice  and  a  commanding  and  flowing  diction. 
Wise  was  lean,  tall,  and  cadaverous,  with  vehemence  and  tones 
not  unlike  John  Randolph's,  and  a  steel-spring  energy  that,  de 
spite  feeble  health,  never  bent  or  broke.  His  campaign  for 
Governor  in  1855  was  one  of  the  most  successful  in  politics. 
The  new  party  was  carrying  every  thing  before  it.  It  had  en 
listed  some  of  the  first  intellects  of  the  time — men  like  Henry 


136  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Winter  Davis,  Henry  W.  Hoffman,  and  J.  Morrison  Harris,  of 
Maryland ;  Henry  M.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania ;  John  S.  Carlile, 
of  Virginia ;  Zollicoffer  and  Etheridge,  of  Tennessee ;  George 
Eustis,  of  Louisiana ;  Humphrey  Marshall,  A.  K.  Marshall,  and 
W.  L.  Underwood,  of  Kentucky.  Maryland,  Delaware,  Ken 
tucky,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  had  in  whole  or  in  part 
bowed  to  the  torrent,  when  Wise  came  forth  and  breasted  and 
broke  it.  His  speeches  were  unique,  original,  and  resistless. 
He  traversed  his  State  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  sea.  He 
was  ubiquitous.  He  became  more  than  ever  a  national  figure. 
Thousands  of  dollars  were  lost  and  won  on  the  issue.  The  only 
money  I  ever  wagered  on  an  election  was  five  hundred  dollars 
I  ventured  on  Wise.  The  following  extract  from  a  speech  of 
Governor  Wise,  delivered  at  Liberty  Hall,  Alexandria,  on  Sat 
urday,  February  3,  1856,  may  not  be  out  of  place,  if  only  as  a 
counterpart  to  Levin's : 

"  I  was  saying  when  interrupted  that  the  State  of  Virginia 
has  every  element  of  commerce,  of  agriculture,  of  mining,  and 
of  manufacturing.  On  Chesapeake  Bay,  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Rappahannock  to  the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake,  you  have  road 
steads  and  harbors  sufficient  to  float  the  navies  of  the  world. 
From  the  River  of  Swans,  on  whose  margin  we  are,  down  to  the 
line  of  North  Carolina,  you  have  the  Potomac,  the  Rappahan 
nock,  the  Piankatank,  from  Mobjack  Bay  to  James  River,  and 
the  Elizabeth  River — all  meeting  in  the  most  beautiful  sheet 
of  water  of  all  the  seas  of  the  earth.  You  have  the  bowels  of 
your  western  mountains — rich  in  iron,  in  copper,  in  coal,  in  salt, 
in  gypsum ;  and  the  very  earth  is  rich  in  oil,  which  makes  the 
very  rivers  inflame.  You  have  the  line  of  the  Alleghany — 
that  beautiful  Blue  Ridge  which  stands  there,  placed  by  the 
Almighty,  not  to  obstruct  the  way  of  the  people  to  market,  but 
placed  there  in  the  very  bounty  of  Providence  to  milk  the 
clouds,  to  make  the  sweet  springs  which  are  the  source  of  your 
rivers— [great  applause]— and  at  the  head  of  every  stream  is 


THE   OLD   DOMINION.  137 

the  waterfall  murmuring  the  very  music  of  your  power.  [Ap 
plause.]  And  yet  Commerce  has  long  ago  spread  her  sails  and 
sailed  away  from  you.  You  have  not  as  yet  dug  more  than 
coal  enough  to  warm  yourselves  at  your  own  hearths.  You 
have  set  no  tilt-hammer  of  Vulcan  to  strike  blows  worthy  of 
gods  in  the  iron  founderies.  You  have  not  yet  spun  more  than 
coarse  cotton  enough,  in  the  way  of  manufacture,  to  clothe  your 
own  slaves.  You  have  had  no  commerce,  no  mining,  no  manu 
factures.  You  have  relied  alone  on  the  single  power  of  agri 
culture — and  such  agriculture  !  [Great  laughter.]  Your  ledge- 
patches  outshine  the  sun.  Your  inattention  to  your  only  source 
of  wealth  has  seared  the  very  bosom  of  Mother  Earth.  [Laugh 
ter.]  Instead  of  having  to  feed  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills,  you 
have  had  to  chase  the  stump-tailed  steer  through  the  ledge- 
patches  to  procure  a  tough  beefsteak.  [Laughter.] 

"With  all  this  plenitude  of  power  she  has  been  dwarfed  in 
the  Union ;  but,  by  the  gods !  I  say  that  she  has  power  now, 
the  energy,  the  resources — may  I  say  the  men  ? — to  be  put  upon 
the  line  of  progress  to  eminence  of  prosperity,  to  pass  New 
York  yet  faster  in  the  Union  than  ever  New  York  has  passed 
her.  [Cheers.]  You  have  been  called  the  '  Old  Dominion.' 
Let  us,  as  Virginians,  I  implore  you,  this  night  resolve  that  a 
new  era  dawn,  and  that  henceforth  she  shall  be  called  the  New 
Dominion.  [Cheering.] 

"The  present  condition  of  things  has  existed  too  long  in 
Virginia.  The  landlord  has  skinned  the  tenant,  and  the  ten 
ant  has  skinned  the  land,  until  all  have  grown  poor  together. 
[Laughter.]  I  have  heard  a  story — I  will  not  locate  it  here  or 
there — about  the  condition  of  our  agriculture.  I  was  told  by  a 
gentleman  in  Washington,  not  long  ago,  that  he  was  traveling 
in  a  county  not  a  hundred  miles  from  this  place,  and  overtook 
one  of  our  citizens  on  horseback,  with  perhaps  a  bag  of  hay  for 
a  saddle,  without  stirrups,  and  the  leading-line  for  a  bridle,  and 
he  said :  *  Stranger,  whose  house  is  that  ?'  '  It  is  mine,'  was 


138  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  reply.  They  came  to  another,  'Whose  house  is  that?' 
'  Mine,  too,  stranger.'  To  a  third, '  And  whose  house  is  that  ?' 
'  That's  mine,  too,  stranger ;  but  don't  suppose  that  I  am  so 
darned  poor  as  to  own  all  the  land  about  here.' 

"  What  more  do  you  want  ?  Why,  you  are  in  the  habit  of 
discussing  Federal  politics ;  and  permit  me  to  say  to  you,  very 
honestly  and  very  openly,  that,  next  to  brandy,  next  to  card- 
playing,  next  to  horse-racing,  the  thing  that  has  done  Virginia 
more  harm  than  any  other  in  the  course  of  her  past  history  has 
been  her  insatiable  appetite  for  Federal  politics.  [Cheers  and 
laughter.]  She  has  given  all  her  great  men  to  the  Union.  Her 
Washington,  her  Jefferson,  her  Madison,  her  Marshall,  her  gal 
axy  of  great  men,  she  has  given  to  the  Union.  When  and  where 
have  her  best  sons  been  at  work,  devoting  their  best  energies 
to  her  service  at  home  ?  Richmond,  instead  of  attending  to 
Richmond's  business,  has  been  too  much  in  the  habit  of  at 
tending  to  the  affairs  of  Washington  City,  when  there  are  plenty 
there,  God  knows,  to  attend  to  them  themselves.  [Laughter.] 
If  you  want  my  opinions  upon  Federal  politics,  though,  I  shall 
not  skulk  them. 

"  The  most  prominent  subject  is  that  of  the  foreign  war.  It 
is  said  that  this  Administration  is  a  *  do-nothing  Administra 
tion.'  To  its  honor  I  can  claim  of  every  fair-minded  man  of^ 
yOU — to  its  honor  I  can  claim  that  it  is  at  least  preserving  our 
neutrality  in  the  foreign  war.  [Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.]  I 
concur  with  them  in  that  policy ;  and  here  let  me  say  that,  so 
far  as  I  am  concerned,  my  sentiments  are  utterly  opposed  to 
any  filibustering  in  any  part  of  the  world.  [Cheers.] 

"There  is  a  Know-Nothing  member  elect  from  Massachu 
setts  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  There  is  a  United 
States  Senator  elect  of  the  Know-Nothings  who  confesses  the 
accusation  which  I  make,  that  the  new  party  of  Know-Nothings 
was  formed  especially  for  the  sake  of  abolitionism.  [Cheers 
and  hisses.]  And  there  is  a  Know-Nothing  governor,  one  of 


THE   POPE.  139 

the  nine,  who  are  all  ready  to  take  the  same  ground.  [Stamp 
ing  of  feet  and  some  hissing.]  Then,  gentlemen,  I  have  here 
an  act  of  the  Know-Nothing  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  which 
proposes  to  give  citizenship  to  the  fugitive  slaves  of  the  South. 
I  have  here,  also,  an  article,  which  is  too  long  for  me  to  read, 
exhausted  as  I  am,  from  the  Worcester  Evening  Journal,  an 
organ  of  Governor  Gardner  and  Senator  Wilson,  which  says  to 
you  boldly  that  the  American  organ  at  Washington  is  a  pro- 
slavery  organ,  that  it  is  not  a  true  Know-Nothing  organ,  and 
that  they  speak  for  the  North  when  they  claim  that  they  have 
already  one  hundred  and  sixty  votes  of  the  non-slaveholding 
States  organized,  eleven  more  than  sufficient  to  elect  a  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  without  a  single  electoral  vote  from 
the  slaveholding  States. 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  having  swept  the  Northern  and  the  North 
western  non-slaveholding  States  of  the  Union,  the  next  onset  is 
on  the  soil  of  Virginia.  This  Worcester  Journal  boasts  that 
Maryland  and  Virginia  are  already  almost  Northern  States; 
and  pray,  how  do  they  propose  to  operate  on  the  South  ?  Hav 
ing  swept  the  North — Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
and  all  those  other  States — the  question  was :  How  can  this 
ism  be  wedged  in  the  South  ?  And  the  devil  was  at  the  elbow 
of  these  preachers  of  *  Christian  politics,'  to  tell  them  precisely 
how.  [Cat-calls,  derisive  cheers,  and  other  manifestations  of 
the  Know-Nothing  element  of  the  meeting.]  There  were  three 
elements  in  the  South,  and  in  Virginia  particularly,  to  which 
they  might  apply  themselves.  There  is  the  religious  element 
— the  Protestant  bigotry  and  fanaticism  (for  Protestants,  gen 
tlemen,  have  their  religious  zeal  without  knowledge  as  well  as 
the  Catholics).  [A  voice,  'True  enough,  sir.']  It  is  an  appeal 
to  the  103,000  Presbyterians,  to  the  30,000  Baptists,  to  the 
300,000  Methodists  of  Virginia.  Well,  how  were  they  to  reach 
them  ?  Why,  just  by  raising  a  hell  of  a  fuss  about  the  Pope. 
[Laughter.]  The  Pope !  The  Pope,  '  now  so  poor  that  none 


14°  ANECDOTES  OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

can  do  him  reverence/  so  poor  that  Louis  Napoleon,  who  re 
quires  every  soldier  in  his  kingdom  to  be  at  Sebastopol,  has  to 
leave  a  guard  of  muskets  at  Rome  !  Once  on  a  time  crowned 
heads  could  bow  down  and  kiss  his  big  toe,  but  now  who  cares 
for  a  Pope  in  Italy  ?  Gentlemen,  the  Pope  is  here.  Priestcraft 
at  home  is  what  you  have  to  dread  more  than  all  the  Popes  in 
the  world.  I  believe,  intellectually,  and  in  my  heart  as  well  as 
my  head,  in  evangelical  Christianity.  I  believe  that  there  is  no 
other  certain  foundation  for  this  Republic  but  the  pure  and  un- 
defiled  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth;  and  the  man  of 
God  who  believes  in  the  Father,  in  the  divinity  of  the  Son  and 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  at  the  baptismal 
font,  by  the  sick-bed,  at  the  grave,  pointing 

'  The  way  to  heaven  and  leading  there/ 

I  honor;  no  man  honors  him  more  than  I  do.  But  the  priest 
who  deserts  the  spiritual  kingdom  for  the  carnal  kingdom,  he  is 
'  of  the  earth,  earthy.'  Whoever  he  be — Episcopalian,  Baptist, 
or  Methodist— who  leaves  the  pulpit  to  join  a  dark-lantern,  se 
cret  political  society,  in  order  that  he  may  become  a  Protestant 
Pope  by  seizing  on  political  power,  he  is  a  hypocrite,  whoever 
he  be.  [Some  applause,  and  cries  of '  Good.']  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth  settled  the  question  himself.  I  have  his  authority 
on  this  question.  When  the  Jews  expected  him  to  put  on  a 
prince's  crown  and  seat  himself  on  the  actual  throne  of  David, 
he  asked  for  a  penny  to  be  shown  him.  A  penny  was  brought 
to  him,  a  metal  coin,  assayed,  clipped,  stamped  with  the  image 
of  the  State's  representative  of  the  civil  power,  stamped  with 
Caesar's  image.  '  Whose  is  this  image  and  superscription  ?'  <  It 
is  Caesar's.'  '  Then  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are 
Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.'  [Applause.] 
'  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  My  kingdom  is  a  spiritual 
kingdom.'  Caesar's  kingdom  is  political — is  a  carnal  kingdom. 
And  I  tell  you  that  if  I  stood  alone  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  and 
if  priestcraft — if  the  priests  of  my  own  mother- Church — dared 


KNOW-NOTHINGISM.  141 

to  lay  their  hands  on  the  political  power  of  our  people,  or  to 
use  their  churches  to  wield  political  influence,  I  would  stand, 
in  feeble  imitation  of,  it  may  be,  but  I  would  stand,  even  if  I 
stood  alone,  as  Patrick  Henry  stood  in  the  Revolution,  between 
the  parsons  and  the  people.  [Applause,  and  a  cry, '  I'm  with 
you.']  I  want  no  Pope,  either  Catholic  or  Protestant.  I  will 
pay  Peter's  pence  to  no  Pontiff,  Episcopalian,  Presbyterian,  Bap 
tist,  Methodist,  or  any  other.  [Applause,  and  cries  of '  Good.'] 
They  not  only  appeal  to  the  religious  element,  but  they  raise  a 
cry  about  the  Pope.  These  men — many  of  them  are  neither 
Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Methodists,  Congrega- 
tionalists,  Lutherans,  or  what  not — who  are  men  of  no  religion, 
who  have  no  Church,  who  do  not  say  their  prayers,  who  do  not 
read  their  Bible,  who  live  God-defying  lives  every  day  of  their 
existence — are  now  seen  with  faces  as  long  as  their  dark-lan 
terns,  with  the  whites  of  their  eyes  turned  up  in  holy  fear  lest 
the  Bible  should  be  shut  up  by  the  Pope !  [Laughter,  applause, 
and  derisive  cheers.]  Men  who  were  never  known  before,  on 
the  face  of  God's  earth,  to  show  any  interest  in  religion,  to  take 
any  part  with  Christ  or  his  kingdom,  who  were  the  devil's  own, 
belonging  to  the  devil's  church,  are  all  of  a  sudden  very  deeply 
interested  for  the  Word  of  God  and  against  the  Pope  !  It  would 
be  well  for  them  that  they  joined  a  Church  which  does  believe 
in  the  Father,  and  in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  ['  Good.'] 
Let  us  see,  my  friends,  what  Know-Nothingism  believes  in.  Do 
you  know  that,  gentlemen  ? 

"  But,  gentlemen,  these  Know-Nothings  appeal  not  only  to 
the  religious  element, but  to  the  political  element;  not  only  to 
the  political  element,  but  to  the  agrarian  element.  Not  only  do 
they  appeal  to  Protestant  bigotry ;  not  only  do  they  ask  Prot 
estants  to  out-Herod  Herod,  to  out-Catholic  the  Catholics,  to 
out-Jesuit  the  Jesuists  by  adopting  their  Machiavelian  creed, 
but  they  appeal  to  a  forlorn  party  in  the  State  of  Virginia — a 
minority  party — broken  down  at  home  and  disorganized,  be- 


142  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

cause  their  associates  have  become  abolitionized  at  the  North 
— they  appeal  to  them  as  affording  them  a  house  of  refuge. 
[Cheers  and  laughter.]  There  is  a  paper  published  in  this 
town  by  one  of  the  most  respectable  gentlemen  of  the  State, 
who  some  time  ago  published  an  article  which  I  must  confess  I 
did  not  expect  to  see  in  print  from  his  pen.  The  Alexandria 
Gazette,  one  of  the  most  respectable  of  the  Whig  papers  of  the 
United  States,  edited  by  one  of  the  most  conservative  and  re 
spectable  gentlemen  that  I  know  of  among  my  acquaintances, 
one  who  has  been  advocating  the  doctrines  and  practice  of  con 
servatism  ever  since  I  knew  him,  is  now  proposing  a  fusion  be 
tween  the  Know-Nothing  and  the  Whig  parties,  simply  for  the 
reason  that '  the  Whigs  are  tired  of  standing  at  the  rack  with 
out  fodder.'  [A  voice  in  the  crowd,  '  Oh,  go  along,'  and  laugh 
ter.]  One  who  used  (as  I  well  remember)  to  denounce  corrup 
tion  and  the  spoils  very  sweepingly,  is  now  actually  maintaining 
that  the  Whigs  will  not  and  can  not  go  upon  principle  any 
longer  and  adhere  to  conservatism,  because  they  are  tired  of 
waiting  for  office. 

"  And,  sir,  before  George  Washington  was  born,  before  La 
fayette  wielded  the  sword,  or  Charles  Carroll  the  pen  of  his 
country,  six  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  on  the  i6th  of  June, 
1214,  there  was  another  scene  enacted  on  the  face  of  the  globe, 
when  the  general  charter  of  all  charters  of  freedom  was  gained, 
when  one  man — a  man  called  Stephen  Langton — swore  the 
barons  of  England,  for  the  people,  against  the  orders  of  the 
Pope  and  against  the  powers  of  the  King — swore  the  barons  on 
the  high  altar  of  the  Catholic  church  at  St.  Edmundsbury,  that 
they  would  have  Magna  Charta  or  die  for  it — the  charter  which 
secures  to  every  one  of  you  to-day  the  trial  by  jury,  freedom  of 
press,  freedom  of  pen,  the  confronting  of  witnesses  with  the  ac 
cused,  and  the  opening  of  secret  dungeons.  That  charter  was 
obtained  by  Stephen  Langton  against  the  Pope  and  against  the 
King  of  England,  and  if  you  Know-Nothings  do  not  know  who 


VIRGINIAN   ORATORY.  143 

Stephen  Langton  was,  you  know  nothing,  sure  enough.  [Laugh 
ter  and  cheers.]  He  was  a  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
[Renewed  cheers.]  I  come  here  not  to  praise  the  Catholics, 
but  I  come  here  to  acknowledge  historical  truths,  and  to  ask  of 
Protestants,  What  has  heretofore  been  the  pride  and  boast  of 
Protestants?  Tolerance  of  opinions  in  religious  faith.  [Ap 
plause.]  All  we  ask  is  tolerance.  All  we  ask  is  that,  if  you 
hate  the  Catholics  because  they  have  proscribed  heretics,  you 
won't  out-proscribe  proscription.  If  you  hate  the  Catholics  be 
cause  they  have  nunneries  and  monasteries,  and  Jesuitical  se 
cret  orders,  don't  out-Jesuit  the  Jesuits  by  going  into  dark-lan 
tern  secret  chambers  to  apply  test  oaths.  If  you  hate  the 
Catholics  because  you  say  they  encourage  the  Machiavelian 
expediency  of  telling  lies  sometimes,  don't  swear  yourselves  not 
to  tell  the  truth. 

"  If  you  place  me  with  your  sword  in  hand  by  that  great  pil 
lar  of  Virginia  sovereignty,  I  promise  you  to  bear  and  forbear 
to  the  last  extremity.  I  will  suffer  much,  suffer  long,  suffer  al 
most  any  thing  but  dishonor.  But  it  is,  in  my  estimation,  with 
the  union  of  the  States  as  it  is  with  the  union  of  matrimony — 
you  may  suffer  almost  any  thing  except  dishonor ;  but  when 
honor  is  touched  the  union  must  be  dissolved.  [Loud  and  pro 
longed  cheers.]  I  will  not  say  that ;  I  take  back  the  words.  I 
will  not  allow  myself  to  contemplate  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
[Renewed  cheering.]  No;  we  will  still  try  to  save  it.  But 
when  the  worst  comes  to  worst,  if  compelled  to  draw  the  sword 
of  Virginia,  I  will  draw  it ;  and,  by  the  gods  of  the  State  and 
her  holy  altars,  if  I  am  compelled  to  draw  it,  I  will  flesh  it  or  it 
shall  pierce  my  body.  [Enthusiastic  cheering.]  And  I  tell  you 
more,  we  have  got  Abolitionists  in  this  State.  [Voice  in  the 
crowd, 'D—n  the  Know-Nothings/  and  great  laughter.]  If  I 
should  have  to  move,  some  of  the  first,  I  fear,  against  whom  I 
should  have  to  act  would  be  some  within  our  own  limits.  But 
if  forced  to  fight,  I  will  not  confine  myself  to  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia.  My  motto  will  be  : 


I44  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

"  <  Woe  to  the  coward  that  ever  he  was  born, 

That  did  not  draw  the  sword  before  he  blew  the  horn.7 

[Loud  cheers.]" 

Mr.  Levin  died,  as  I  have  stated,  in  March  of  1860,  in  his 
fifty-second  year,  but  Henry  A.  Wise  is  still  living  in  his  sixty- 
fifth.     His  has  been  a  stormy  experience.     He  graduated  at 
Washington  College,  Pennsylvania,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Winchester,  Virginia,  in  1828,  and  re 
moved  the  same  year  to  Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  prac 
ticed  his  profession  for  a  short  time.     Returning  to  his  native 
county  of  Accomac,  Virginia,  he  was  elected  a  Representative 
in  Congress  in  1833,  and  served  until  1844-     He  was  an  ex 
treme  Whig  up  to  the  time  John  Tyler  quarreled  with  that  party, 
after  which  he  gradually  united  with  the  Democrats,  and  in 
1855  became  their  candidate  for  Governor  of  Virginia  and  was 
elected.     He  held  that  position  until  1860.     He  was  a  Con 
federate  brigadier-general,  and  did  his  utmost  to  excite  the  peo 
ple  of  the  South  against  the  Government.     The  extract  I  take 
from  his  speech  is  a  fair  specimen  of  his  oratory.     Intense,  im 
petuous,  and  rapid,  he  is  a  very  formidable  adversary  on  the 
hustings  and  at  the  bar.     His  opposition  to  General  Jackson 
was  exceedingly  virulent  and  able.     He  figured  prominently  in 
the  lamentable  duel  at  Bladensburg,  Maryland,  on  the  24th 
of  February,  1838,  between  Jonathan  Cilley,  of  Maine,  a  Dem 
ocrat,  and  William  J.  Graves,  of  Kentucky,  a  Whig.    Few  events 
ever  excited  greater  horror.     It  was  the  first  of  many  tragedies 
growing  out  of  the  arrogant  insolence  of  the  slaveholders.  ^They 
fought  with  rifles,  at  eighty  yards,  and  when  Cilley  fell,  in  the 
thirty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  a  bright  light  was  extinguished  and 
a  noble  heart  stilled.    Wise  was  the  undoubted  dictator  of  the 
Tyler  Administration.     Standing  between  the  two  great  parties 
in  the  House,  he  delighted  in  his  isolation  and  rioted  in  the  ec 
centricities  of  his  genius.     Sent  as  Minister  to  Brazil  in  1844, 
and  remaining  there  until  1847,  he  made  himself  notorious  by 


POLITICS   AND   RELIGION.  145 

some  of  the  maddest  diplomatic  explosions.  He  had  been  ap 
pointed  Minister  to  France  in  1843,  and  resigned  his  place  to 
accept  the  post,  but  the  Senate  would  not  confirm  him,  and  his 
constituency  immediately  returned  him  to  Congress.  He  was 
Governor  of  Virginia  when  John  Brown  was  executed,  and 
made  the  worst  use  of  that  event  in  preparing  the  people  for 
the  coming  rebellion.  He  lost  one  or  two  sons  in  that  struggle, 
and  is  now,  I  believe,  in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession. 

The  fatal  error  in  the  Native  American  and  Know-Nothing 
excitements  was  that  the  first  warred  against  all  Cuholics,  and 
the  second  against  all  foreigners.  We  must  wait  to  see  how  the 
present  assault  by  Irish  Catholics  upon  Irish  Protestants  will 
end.  It  is  a  new  phase,  and  must  work  out  new  results,  es 
pecially  in  view  of  late  developments  in  Italy,  France,  Germany, 
and  Spain,  in  all  of  which  Republican  members  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  like  Hyacinthe  in  France,  Garibaldi  in  Italy,  D61- 
linger  in  Germany,  and  Castelar  in  Spain,  have  taken  arms 
boldly  against  the  extraordinary  assumptions  of  the  Pope  and 
his  College  of  Cardinals.  Dollinger  is  already  being  called  the 
Luther  of  his  time,  and  Garibaldi  is  the  soldier  who  fights  for 
liberty  in  the  name  of  the  crucified  Saviour. 

Should  this  movement  crystallize,  it  may  revolutionize  by  lib 
eralizing  the  Catholic  Church.  Let  us  not  despise  these  signs 
of  the  times.  They  are  numerous.  The  past  history  of  the 
American  sentiment  is  a  profound  philosophy — worthy  of  the 
statesman's  careful  study.  The  appointment  of  so  many  foreign 
ers  in  New  York  by  the  Democratic  party  in  the  spring  of  1844 
was  so  odious  that  the  Native  Americans  carried  that  great  city 
in  all  its  departments,  electing  James  Harper  (the  venerable 
head  of  the  publishing  house  of  that  name,  now  deceased) 
Mayor,  and  carrying  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  The  contagion 
then  spread  to  Philadelphia,  when  Levin  took  up  the  cause, 
and,  as  I  have  shown,  carried  it  to  a  great  success.  Defeated 
for  a  season,  it  is  again  revived  by  causes  that  have  a  deeper 

G 


I4<3  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

root  and  extend  over  the  whole  area  of  civilization.  How  these 
will  germinate  and  grow,  whether  into  a  creed  or  a  faction,  into 
a  great  mission  or  a  new  mischief,  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of 
the  age. 

[July  30, 1871.] 


XXX. 

How  to  win  friends  and  keep  them  is  the  secret  of  a  success 
ful  public  man.  Andrew  Jackson  possessed  it,  without  abso 
lutely  courting  the  people.  His  strict  integrity,  generous  nat 
ure,  high  honor,  military  character  and  history,  were  the  chief 
elements  of  his  prestige.  Henry  Clay  possessed  and  knew  how 
to  use  it.  His  charms  were  unrivaled  eloquence,  supreme  am 
bition,  innate  patriotism,  commanding  presence,  and  magnet 
ism  of  men  and  women.  John  Quincy  Adams,  Martin  Van 
Buren,  and  James  Buchanan  were  cold  and  formal  men,  who 
inspired  admiration  by  their  talents,  but  never  awakened  real 
affection.  Abraham  Lincoln  captured  every  body  by  seeming 
to  be  indifferent  to  the  very  qualities  in  which  he  was  eminent. 
His  simplicity  and  naturalness,  so  to  speak,  were  resistless. 
But  no  character,  certainly  no  candidate  for  our  highest  office, 
was  a  completer  master  of  the  gift  of  securing  tenacious  friends 
than  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  He  had  scarcely  touched  the  floor 
of  Congress  before  he  became  an  object  of  interest.  His  ex 
treme  youth,  his  boyish  appearance,  his  ready  wit,  his  fine 
memory,  his  native  rhetoric,  above  all,  his  suavity  and  heart 
iness,  made  him  a  favorite  long  before  he  was  named  for  Pres 
ident.  He  delighted  in  pleasant  company.  Unused  to  what  is 
called  "etiquette,"  he  soon  adapted  himself  to  its  rules,  and 
took  rank  in  the  dazzling  society  of  the  capital.  Many  a  time 
have  I  watched  him  leading  in  the  keen  encounters  of  the 


SENATOR   McDOUGALL.  147 

bright  intellects  around  the  festive  board.  To  see  him  thread 
ing  the  glittering  crowd  with  a  pleasant  smile  or  a  kind  word 
for  every  body,  one  would  have  taken  him  for  a  trained  court 
ier.  But  he  was  more  at  home  in  the  close  and  exciting  thicket 
of  men.  That  was  his  element.  To  call  each  one  by  name, 
sometimes  by  his  Christian  name  j  to  stand  in  the  centre  of  a 
listening  throng,  while  he  told  some  Western  story  or  defended 
some  public  measure  j  to  exchange  jokes  with  a  political  adver 
sary  ;  or,  ascending  the  rostrum,  to  hold  thousands  spell-bound 
for  hours,  as  he  poured  forth  torrents  of  characteristic  elo 
quence — these  were  traits  that  raised  up  for  him  hosts  who 
were  ready  to  fight  for  him.  Eminent  men  did  not  hesitate  to 
take  their  stand  under  the  Douglas  flag.  Riper  scholars  than 
himself,  older  if  not  better  statesmen,  frankly  acknowledged 
his  leadership  and  faithfully  followed  his  fortunes. 

But  among  them  all  none  came  into  Congress  more  devoted 
ly  attached  to  Douglas  than  James  A.  McDougall,  who  died 
shortly  after  the  close  of  his  term  as  a  Senator  in  Congress 
from  California.  Born  at  Bethlehem,  New  York,  on  the  iQth 
of  November,  1817,  he  removed  to  Pike  County,  Illinois,  when 
he  was  just  twenty  years  of  age,  and  when  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
was  registrar  of  the  Land  Office  in  that  State.  There  was  four 
years'  difference  between  the  men,  and  they  loved  each  other 
like  brothers.  McDougall  was  chosen  Attorney-General  of 
the  State  in  1842,  and  re-elected  in  1844.  In  1849  ne  origi 
nated  and  accompanied  an  exploring  expedition  to  Rio  del 
Norte,  Gila,  and  Colorado ;  afterward  emigrated  to  California, 
where  he  followed  his  profession  until  he  was  chosen  Attorney- 
General  of  that  State  in  1850.  He  was  sent  to  Congress  for 
one  term,  from  1853  to  1855,  but  declined  a  re-election,  and  re 
mained  out  of  public  life  until  he  was  made  a  Senator  in  Con 
gress  in  1 86 1,  the  term  of  which  he  served  out.  He  entered 
the  Senate  as  a  War  Democrat  of  the  advanced  school,  and 
was  for  a  while  the  representative  of  the  ideas  for  which  Brod- 


148  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

erick  fell  at  the  hands  of  Terry  in  1859.  He  advocated  the 
extremest  measures  against  the  rebellion,  and  sustained  the 
Lincoln  Administration.  But  as  the  excitement  grew,  and 
sterner  measures  were  demanded,  he  gradually  fell  back  into 
the  ranks  of  the  old  Democracy,  and  died  in  that  faith.  It  can 
be  no  irreverence  to  his  memory  to  say  that  James  A.  McDou- 
gall  would  have  been  living  now  if  he  had  not  yielded  to  the 
destroyer.  When  I  first  saw  him  in  1853,  as  a  Representative 
from  California,  he  was  the  picture  of  health  and  strength. 
Public  life,  with  all  its  fascinations,  was  too  much  for  him. 
Generous  to  a  fault,  unusually  disinterested,  the  enemy  of  all 
corruption,  he  had  the  material  for  a  long  and  useful  life.  Had 
he  not  discarded  the  opportunities  in  his  path,  and  surrendered 
to  the  allurements  around  him,  he  might  have  been  still  among 
us.  Unlike  some  in  the  same  body,  McDougall  rarely  forgot 
his  place.  If  he  committed  excesses,  it  was  outside  the  Senate 
chamber.  Every  body  loved  him.  I  think  he  had  not  a  per 
sonal  enemy,  and  those  who  opposed  him  politically  admired 
his  genius  and  deplored  his  weakness.  Some  of  his  arguments 
were  specimens  of  complete  logic.  He  was  an  adept  in  the 
law.  He  seldom  forgot  an  authority,  and  his  opinion  on  the 
gravest  questions  was  frequently  sought  and  followed.  Well 
versed  in  the  classics,  familiar  with  ancient  and  modern  po 
etry,  his  tastes,  whether  of  books  or  men,  were  always  refined. 
One  of  his  last  speeches  is  that  which  follows,  pronounced  from 
his  seat  in  the  Senate  on  the  nth  of  April,  1866,  on  the  prop 
osition  of  Senator  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  to  prohibit  the 
sale  of  liquor  in  the  Capitol  building.  It  is  given  exactly  as 
it  fell  from  his  lips,  and  is  a  sad  explanation  of  the  cause  which 
called  him  too  early  from  life  to  death,  and  of  his  peculiar  hab 
its  of  thought  at  a  period  when  he  seemed  to  have  entirely 
abandoned  all  hope  of  self-redemption  : 

"  MR.  PRESIDENT  :  It  was  once  said  that  there  are  as  many 
minds  as  men,  and  there  is  no  end  to  wrangling.     I  had  oc- 


USE   AND   ABUSE.  149 

casion  some  years  since  to  discourse  with  a  reverend  doctor  of 
divinity  from  the  State  which  has  the  honor  to  be  the  birth 
place,  I  think,  of  the  president  of  this  body.  While  I  was  dis 
coursing  with  him  a  lot  of  vile  rapscallions  invited  me  to  join 
them  at  the  bar.  I  declined,  out  of  respect  to  the  reverend 
gentleman  in  whose  presence  I  then  was.  As  soon  as  the  oc 
casion  had  passed,  I  remarked  to  the  reverend  doctor:  'Do 
not  understand  that  I  decline  to  go  and  join  those  young  men 
at  the  bar  because  I  have  any  objections  to  that  thing,  for  it  is 
my  habit  to  drink  always  in  the  front  and  not  behind  the  door.' 
He  looked  at  me  with  a  certain  degree  of  interrogation.  I 
then  asked  him, '  Doctor,  what  was  the  first  miracle  worked  by 
our  great  Master?'  He  hesitated,  and  I  said  to  him,  'Was  it 
not  at  Cana,  in  Galilee,  where  he  converted  the  water  into  wine 
at  a  marriage  feast  ?'  He  assented.  I  asked  him  then, '  After 
the  ark  had  floated  on  the  tempestuous  seas  for  forty  days  and 
nights,  and  as  it  descended  upon  the  dry  land,  what  was  the 
first  thing  done  by  Father  Noah  ?'  He  said  he  did  not  know 
that  exactly.  'Well,' said  I, 'did  he  not  plant  a  vine?'  Yes, 
he  remembered  it  then. 

"  I  asked  him,  '  Do  you  remember  any  great  poet  that  ever 
illustrated  the  higher  fields  of  humanity  that  did  not  dignify 
the  use  of  wine,  from  old  Homer  down?'  He  did  not.  I 
asked, '  Do  you  know  any  great  philosopher  that  did  not  use  it 
for  the  exaltation  of  his  intelligence  ?  Do  you  think,  Doctor, 
that  a  man  who  lived  upon  pork  and  beef  and  corn-bread  could 
get  up  into  the  superior  regions — into  the  ethereal  ?'  No,  he 

must 

"  '  Take  nectar  on  high  Olympus, 

And  mighty  mead  in  Valhalla.' 

"I  said  to  him  again  :  'Doctor,  you  are  a  scholarly  man,  of 
course  —  a  doctor  of  divinity,  a  graduate  of  Yale  ;  do  you  re 
member  Plato's  Symposium?'  Yes,  he  remembered  that.  I 
referred  him  to  the  occasion  when  Agatho,  having  won  the 


jrjO  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

prize  of  Tragedy  at  the  Olympic  games  at  Corinth,  on  coming 
back  to  Athens  was  feted  by  the  nobility  and  aristocracy  of 
that  city,  for  it  was  a  proud  triumph  to  Athens  to  win  the  prize 
of  Tragedy.     They  got  together  at  the  house  of  Phaedrus,  and 
they  said,  '  Now,  we  have  been  every  night  for  these  last  six 
nights  drunk;  let  us  be  sober  to-night,  and  we  will  start  a 
theme,'  which  they  passed  around  the  table  as  the  sun  goes 
round,  or  as  they  drank  their  wine,  or  as  men  tell  a  story.    They 
started  a  theme,  and  the  theme  was  love — not  love  in  the  vul 
gar  sense,  but  love  in  the  high  sense — love  of  all  that  is  beauti 
ful.     After  they  had  gone  through,  and  after  Socrates  had  pro 
nounced  his  judgment  about  the  true  and  beautiful,  in  came 
Alcibiades  with  a  drunken  body  of  Athenian  boys,  with  gar 
lands  around  their  heads  to  crown  Agatho  and  crown  old  Soc 
rates,  and  they  said  to  those  assembled  :  'This  will  not  do;  we 
have  been  drinking,  and  you  have  not ;'  and  after  Alcibiades 
had  made  his  talk  in  pursuance  of  the  argument,  in  which  he 
undertook  to  dignify  Socrates,  as  I  remember  it,  they  required 
(after  the  party  had  agreed  to  drink,  it  being  quite  late  in  the 
evening,  and  they  had  finished  their  business  in  the  way  of  dis 
cussion)  that  Socrates  should  drink  two  measures  for  every 
other  man's  one,  because  he  was  better  able  to  stand  it.     And 
so,  one  after  another,  they  were  laid  down  on  the  lounges  in 
the  Athenian  style,  all  except  an  old  physician  named  Aristo- 
demus,  and  Plato  makes  him  the  hardest-headed  fellow  except 
Socrates.     He  and  Socrates  stuck  at  it  until  the  gray  of  the 
morning,  and  then  Socrates  took  his  bath  and  went  down  to 
the  groves  and  talked  academic  knowledge. 

"  After  citing  this  incident,  I  said  to  this  divine  :  '  Do  you  re 
member  that  Lord  Bacon  said  that  a  man  should  get  drunk  at 
least  once  a  month,  and  that  Montaigne,  the  French  philoso 
pher,  indorsed  the  proposition  ?' 

"  These  exaltants  that  bring  us  up  above  the  common  meas 
ure  of  the  brute — wine  and  oil — elevate  us,  enable  us  to  seize 


GERRITT   SMITH.  I$I 

great  facts,  inspirations  which,  once  possessed,  are  ours  forever ; 
and  those  who  never  go  beyond  the  mere  beastly  means  of  an 
imal  support  never  live  in  the  high  planes  of  life,  and  can  not 
achieve  them. 

"  I  believe  in  women,  wine,  whisky,  and  war." 
Let  us  not,  with  this  curious  specimen  of  his  last  ideas,  judge 
harshly  of  James  A.  McDougall ;  let  us  rather  sympathize  with 
his  weakness,  and  remember  him  for  those  qualities  of  heart 
and  head  which,  with  a  little  self-restraint,  would  have  made 
him  a  shining  light  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

As  showing  how  tranquillity  and  good  temper  promote  hap 
piness  and  long  life,  turn  to  the  contrasting  character  of  Gerritt 
Smith,  of  New  York,  .who  came  into  Congress  with  McDougall 
in  1853,  and  went  out  with  him  in  1855.  Gerritt  Smith  was 
born  in  Utica,  New  York,  March  6,  1797,  and  is  therefore  in 
his  seventy-fifth  year.  He  is  living  at  Peterboro,  New  York,  in 
fine  health.  I  saw  him  several  months  ago  in  Washington,  the 
picture  of  ripe,  vigorous,  well-preserved  old  age.  The  possessor 
of  immense  wealth,  which  he  distributes  with  princely  generos 
ity,  he  delighted  in  gathering  men  of  opposite  opinions,  and 
especially  the  Southern  leaders,  to  his  dinner  parties.  His 
handsome  face  and  elegant  manners,  his  kind  heart,  native  wit, 
and  graceful  hospitality  were  made  strangely  attractive  by  the 
fact  that  he  never  allowed  a  drop  of  wine  or  liquor  at  his  enter 
tainments.  Every  thing  else  was  in  profusion,  and  it  was  amus 
ing  to  hear  the  comments  of  those  who  never  knew  what  it  was 
to  accept  an  invitation  without  anticipating  copious  draughts 
of  champagne,  sherry,  or  madeira.  Bold  and  manly  in  his  op 
position  to  slavery  in  all  its  forms,  a  powerful  speaker,  a  consci 
entious  legislator,  he  mingled  with  the  extreme  men  of  the  South 
like  a  friend.  Combating  what  he  believed  to  be  their  heresies, 
he  extended  as  free  a  toleration  to  them  as  he  demanded  for 
himself.  When  he  met  McDougall  first,  the  latter  was  one  of 
the  promising  men  in  the  nation ;  and  I  doubt  not,  when  his 


152  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

career  was  prematurely  closed,  no  one  mourned  him  more  or 
made  a  more  generous  allowance  for  his  frailties  than  Gerritt 
Smith,  of  New  York. 
[August  6, 1871.] 


XXXI. 

JOHN  SLIDELL'S  death  freshens  a  memory  that  ought  to  live 
forever — the  memory  of  the  short  and  last  session  of  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Congress — when  the  work  of  secession  preceded  the  work 
of  rebellion.  What  was  said  in  those  short  three  months  would 
fill  many  volumes ;  what  was  done  after  them  filled  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  graves.  The  defiance  of  Wigfall,  now  in  a 
foreign  land ;  the  threats  of  Jefferson  Davis,  now  utterly  de 
spised  by  his  former  followers ;  the  prolonged  plea  for  treason 
of  Clingman,  of  North  Carolina,  now  in  safe  obscurity ;  the 
vulgar  abuse  of  Jim  Lane,  of  Oregon,  now  utterly  out  of  sight 
— were  nothing  to  the  speech  of  Senator  Slidell,  of  Louisiana, 
on  the  4th  of  February,  1861,  after  he  presented  the  ordinance 
of  secession  adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  that  State.  I  allude 
to  it,  not  by  way  of  reproach,  but  to  point  the  solemn  moral  of 
a  tragedy  which  began  with  so  many  loud  prophecies  of  success 
from  the  wrong-doers,  and  ended  in  such  a  complete  catastro 
phe  of  their  hopes  and  plans.  A  few  passages  will  therefore  be 
useful : 

"  We  have  no  idea  that  you  will  ever  attempt  to  invade  our 
soil  with  your  armies  ;  but  we  acknowledge  your  superiority  on 
the  sea,  at  present,  in  some  degree,  accidental,  but  in  the  main 
natural  and  permanent,  until  we  shall  have  acquired  better 
ports  for  our  marine.  You  may,  if  you  will  it,  persist  in  con 
sidering  us  bound  to  you  during  your  good  pleasure  ;  you  may 
deny  the  sacred  and  indefeasible  right,  we  will  not  say  of  seces- 


JOHN   SLIDELL.  153 

sion,but  of  revolution — aye,  of  rebellion,  if  you  choose  so  to  call 
our  action — the  right  of  every  people  to  establish  for  itself  that 
form  of  government  which  it  may,  even  in  its  folly,  if  such  you 
deem  it,  consider  best  calculated  to  secure  its  safety  and  pro 
mote  its  welfare.  You  may  ignore  the  principles  of  our  immor 
tal  Declaration  of  Independence ;  you  may  attempt  to  reduce 
us  to  subjection,  or  you  may,  under  color  of  enforcing  your  laws 
or  collecting  your  revenue,  blockade  our  ports.  This  will  be 
war,  and  we  shall  meet  it,  with  different  but  equally  efficient 
weapons.  We  will  not  permit  the  consumption  or  introduction 
of  any  of  your  manufactures ;  every  sea  will  swarm  with  our 
volunteer  militia  of  the  ocean,  with  the  striped  bunting  floating 
over  their  heads,  for  we  do  not  mean  to  give  up  that  flag  without 
a  bloody  struggle — it  is  ours  as  much  as  yours  •  and  although  for 
a  time  more  stars  may  shine  on  your  banner,  our  children,  if 
not  we,  will  rally  under  a  constellation  more  numerous  and 
more  resplendent  than  yours.  You  may  smile  at  this  as  an 
impotent  boast,  at  least  for  the  present,  if  not  for  the  future ; 
but  if  we  need  ships  and  men  for  privateering,  we  shall  be  amply 
supplied  from  the  same  sources  as  now  almost  exclusively  fur 
nish  the  means  for  carrying  on  with  such  unexampled  vigor  the 
African  slave-trade — New  York  and  New  England.  Your  mer 
cantile  marine  must  either  sail  under  foreign  flags  or  rot  at  your 
wharves. 

"  But  enough,  perhaps  somewhat  too  much,  of  this.  We  de 
sire  not  to  speak  to  you  in  terms  of  bravado  or  menace.  Let  us 
treat  each  other  as  men,  who,  determined  to  break  offunpleasant, 
incompatible,  and  unprofitable  relations,  cease  to  bandy  words, 
and  mutually  leave  each  other  to  determine  whether  their  differ 
ences  shall  be  decided  by  blows  or  by  the  code,  which  some  of  us 
still  recognize  as  that  of  honor.  We  shall  do  with  you  as  the 
French  Guards  did  with  the  English  at  the  battle  of  Fontenoy. 
In  a  preliminary  skirmish,  the  French  and  English  Guards  met 
face  to  face ;  the  English  Guards  courteously  saluted  their  adver- 

G2 


154  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

saries  by  taking  off  their  hats  ;  the  French  Guards  returned  the 
salute  with  equal  courtesy.  Lord  Hay,  of  the  English  Guards, 
cried  out,  in  a  loud  voice,  '  Gentlemen  of  the  French  Guards, 
fire  !'  Count  d'Auteroche  replied  in  the  same  tone,  '  Gentle 
men,  we  never  fire  first !'  The  English  took  them  at  their 
word,  and  did  fire  first.  Being  at  close  quarters,  the  effect  was 
very  destructive,  and  the  French  were  for  a  time  thrown  into 
disorder ;  but  the  fortunes  of  the  day  were  soon  restored  by  the 
skill  and  courage  of  Marshal  Saxe,  and  the  English,  under  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  suffered  one  of  the  most  disastrous  de 
feats  which  their  military  annals  record.  Gentlemen,  we  will  not 
fire  first. 

"  Senators,  six  States  have  now  severed  the  links  that  bound 
them  to  a  Union  to  which  we  were  all  attached,  as  well  by  many 
ties  of  material  well-being  as  by  the  inheritance  of  common 
glories  in  the  past,  and  the  well-founded  hopes  of  still  more 
brilliant  destinies  in  the  future.  Twelve  seats  are  now  vacant 
on  this  floor.  The  work  is  only  yet  begun.  It  requires  no 
spirit  of  prophecy  to  point  to  many,  many  chairs  around  us  that 
will  soon,  like  ours,  be  unfilled ;  and  if  the  weird  sisters  of  the 
great  dramatic  poet  could  here  be  conjured  up,  they  would  pre 
sent  to  the  affrighted  vision  of  those  on  the  other  side  of  the 
chamber,  who  have  so  largely  contributed  to  'the  deep  dam 
nation  of  this  taking  off,'  a  'glass  to  show  them  many  more.' 
They  who  have  so  foully  murdered  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union  will  find,  when  too  late,  like  the  Scottish  Thane,  that 
'for  Banquo's  issue  they  have  filed  their  minds;'  'they  have 
but  placed  upon  their  heads  a  fruitless  crown,  and  put  a  barren 
sceptre  in  their  gripe,  no  son  of  theirs  succeeding.' 

"  In  taking  leave  of  the  Senate,  while  we  shall  carry  with  us 
many  agreeable  recollections  of  intercourse,  social  and  official, 
with  gentlemen  who  have  differed  with  us  on  this,  the  great 
question  of  the  age,  we  would  that  we  could,  in  fitting  language, 
express  the  mingled  feelings  of  admiration  and  regret  with  which 


A  VALEDICTORY.  155 

we  look  back  to  our  associations  on  this  floor  with  many  of  our 
Northern  colleagues.  They  have,  one  after  the  other,  fallen  in 
their  heroic  struggle  against  a  blind  fanaticism,  until  now  but 
few — alas !  how  few — remain  to  fight  the  battle  of  the  Consti 
tution.  Several  even  of  these  will  terminate  their  official  career 
in  one  short  month,  and  will  give  place  to  men  holding  opinions 
diametrically  opposite,  which  have  recommended  them  to  the 
suffrages  of  their  States.  Had  we  remained  here,  the  same  fate 
would  have  awaited,  at  the  next  election,  the  four  or  five  last 
survivors  of  that  gallant  band  ;  but  now  we  shall  carry  with  us 
at  least  this  one  consoling  reflection — our  departure,  realizing 
all  their  predictions  of  ill  to  the  Republic,  opens  a  new  era  of 
triumph  for  the  Democratic  party  of  the  North,  and  will,  we 
firmly  believe,  re-establish  its  lost  ascendency  in  most  of  the 
non-slaveholding  States." 

It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  author  of  these  sentiments  was 
born  and  lived  to  manhood  in  the  North,  and  that  all  this  hate 
and  scorn  should  have  been  cherished  by  one  who  ought  to 
have  been  filled  with  gratitude  to  a  government  that  had  so 
long  protected  and  so  frequently  honored  him.  Yet  these  are 
very  characteristic  words.  They  describe  the  man  like  a  pho 
tograph.  He  had  really  come  to  despise  his  native  section,  and 
the  feeling  finally  so  absorbed  him  that  he  would  consort  with 
none  who  did  not  agree  with  him  about  slavery.  He  made  his 
own  ideas  the  test  in  all  cases,  grading  his  likes  and  dislikes 
by  the  favor  or  disfavor  with  which  these  ideas  were  received. 
His  animosity  to  Douglas,  Broderick,  and — while  he  was  on  the 
right  side — to  Andrew  Johnson,  was  intense  and  unnatural; 
while  to  those  who  opposed  Buchanan  and  his  Lecompton 
treachery  in  1858,  he  showed  no  mercy. 

The  curious  part  of  the  above  extract  is  the  unconscious  trib 
ute  to  the  old  flag  and  the  promise  "not  to  fire  first ;"  and  yet 
in  a  little  more  than  two  months  the  rebellion  had  not  only 
adopted  a  new  flag,  but  authoritatively  began  the  war  by  firing 


156  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

upon  ours  !  Not  less  mistaken  was  his  idea  that  the  withdrawal 
of  the  main  body  of  the  Democratic  party  from  Congress  would 
be  the  very  best  plan  to  give  to  that  which  was  left  the  control 
of  the  North. 

Mr.  Slidell  was  a  man  of  the  world  and  a  scheming  politi 
cian,  yet  never  a  statesman.  He  had  some  reputation  as  a  law 
yer,  but  not  as  an  advocate  or  pleader.  Few  men  had  more 
influence  over  James  Buchanan,  and  none  did  so  much  to  mis 
lead  that  ill-starred  President.  His  rule  was  implacable  hostil 
ity  to  all  who  did  not  agree  with  him.  He  was  faithful  to  those 
who  followed  him,  but  his  prejudices  always  dominated  his 
friendships.  He  had  undoubted  courage,  but  his  mistake  was 
a  belief  that  the  best  way  to  adjust  a  dispute  was  by  an  appeal 
to  the  "code  of  honor."  Born  in  New  York  in  1793,  he  did 
not  adopt  Louisiana  as  his  home  till  he  had  passed  his  majori 
ty;  but  he  soon  rose  to  leadership  in  the  Democratic  party. 
He  was  successively  United  States  District  Attorney,  member 
of  the  State  Legislature,  Representative  in  Congress,  Minister 
to  Mexico,  and  United  States  Senator.  It  is  easy  to  under^ 
stand,  upon  reading  his  speech,  how  well  qualified  he  was  for 
the  Confederate  service.  He  had  some  diplomatic  experience, 
spoke  French  fluently,  had  been  much  in  foreign  countries,  and 
was  perhaps  the  very  man  to  make  Louis  Napoleon  the  ally  of 
Jefferson  Davis.  But  he  made  slow  progress  on  his  mission. 
He  was  constantly  baffled — the  prey  of  false  promises  and  un 
dying  remorse.  His  capture  by  Captain  Wilkes  of  the  San  Ja- 
cinto  and  his  imprisonment  in  Fort  Warren  were  not  auguries 
of  a  fortunate  career ;  and,  doubtless,  when  he  saw  his  proud 
predictions  disappointed,  his  State  captured  by  the  despised 
Yankees,  his  associates  beaten  on  land  and  sea,  and  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  every  where  utterly  broken,  he  was  not  sorry  to 
hear  the  last  call.  His  associate  commissioner,  James  M.  Ma 
son,  of  Virginia,  preceded  him  to  the  final  rest  by  a  very  few 
months.  His  colleague,  J.  P.  Benjamin,  who  with  him  left  the 


AN   EVENTFUL   ERA.  157 

Senate  on  the  same  4th  of  February,  1861,  is  a  barrister  before 
the  London  courts,  and  is  now  a  foreigner,  as  he  was  before  he 
became  naturalized  under  the  laws  of  a  country  he  sought  to 
destroy.  The  man  he  most  disliked  in  Louisiana,  poor  Pierre 
Soule,  the  brilliant  and  superficial  Frenchman,  passed  away 
after  the  saddest  closing  years.  His  friend  Howell  Cobb  has 
gone.  His  confrere,  Jesse  D.  Bright,  has  left  Indiana  to  become 
a  member  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature.  And  James  Buchanan 
sleeps  his  last  sleep  in  the  Lancaster  cemetery.  It  is  certain 
that  Mr.  Slidell  desired  to  lay  his  bones  among  his  kindred  in 
America.  He  tired  of  life  in  Paris,  wealthy  as  he  was  in  his 
own  right  and  in  the  success  of  his  connections ;  but  for  some 
reason  the  efforts  of  his  friends  to  make  his  return  easy  were 
not  persisted  in,  and  in  his  seventy-eighth  year  he  died  in  a 
strange  land. 

[August  13, 1871.]     ff 


XXXII. 

BETWEEN  December,  1860,  and  the  iQth  of  April,  1861,  was 
crowded  a  series  of  events  which,  carefully  preserved,  would 
have  constituted  many  chapters  of  absorbing  interest.  But 
neither  side  believed  entirely  in  the  absolute  certainty  of  hostil 
ities  ;  few  were  sufficiently  composed  to  keep  a  regular  diary 
outside  the  daily  printed  reports,  and  these,  at  least  at  the  im 
mediate  theatre  of  operations,  the  nation's  capital,  were  rela 
tively  inferior  to  the  full  and  exact  reflections  of  the  doings  of 
the  world  in  the  newspapers  of  these  times.  Some  persons  did, 
perhaps,  journalize  their  experience,  but  much  that  entered  into 
the  real  history  of  the  period  can  only  be  rescued  from  oblivion 
by  utilizing  unrecorded  memories.  I  recollect  that  as  early  as 
December,  1860,  I  called  upon  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  to 


158  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

put  themselves  in  the  condition  of  armed  assistance  to  the  Gov 
ernment.  For  this  letter  I  was  severely  censured  as  an  alarm 
ist.  The  most  sagacious  men  did  not  give  up  the  hope  of  rec 
onciliation.  Mr.  Lincoln's  inaugural,  conceived  in  the  best 
Christian  spirit,  was  easily  construed  into  a  prayer  for  compro 
mise  j  and  one  of  the  most  thoughtful  speeches  of  Judge  Doug 
las,  in  which  he  contended  that  the  difficulties  could  be  amica 
bly  arranged,  was  inspired  by  that  inaugural.  In  recurring  to 
my  letters  of  March,  1861, 1  find  myself  busily  seconding  these 
efforts.  The  firing  upon  Sumter,  on  the  i4th  of  April,  how 
ever,  dissipated  all  these  expectations,  and  men  began  to 
look  for  the  worst.  From  that  day  Baltimore  city  became  an 
obedient  echo  of  the  agitation  throughout  the  South.  Lying 
directly  across  the  great  highway  leading  to  Washington,  it  was 
soon  evident  that  no  troops  could  be  sent  to  the  defense  of  the 
latter  without  danger.  But  even  then  few  persons  were  willing 
to  admit  that  the  pro-slavery  mob  of  the  city  would  dare  to  at 
tack  the  soldiers  on  their  way  to  the  immediate  scene  of  peril. 
Among  these  was  Charles  Sumner,  Senator  in  Congress  from 
Massachusetts,  who  relates  an  incident  that  typifies  the  prevail 
ing  sentiment  in  Baltimore,  and  his  own  characteristic  firmness 
and  self-reliance.  At  noon  on  the  i8th  of  April,  1861,  he 
bought  a  ticket  at  Washington  for  Baltimore,  and  arriving  there, 
entered  his  full  name  on  the  books  of  Barnum's  Hotel.  Prefer 
ring  a  quiet  hour,  he  crossed  the  street  and  ordered  an  early 
dinner  at  Guy's  Monument  House,  always  famous  for  its  good 
fare,  and  a  favorite  resort  of  the  celebrities  when  they  visited 
the  Monumental  City.  Dinner  over,  he  called  on  a  New  En 
gland  friend  and  resident,  remained  to  tea,  and  then  returned 
through  a  by-street  to  Barnum's,  entering  at  the  side  door.  In 
the  hall  he  met  a  gentleman  who  seemed  much  excited  by  his 
presence,  and  anxious  for  his  safety.  Conscious  of  his  own 
rectitude,  he  walked  up  to  the  office  and  demanded  the  key  of 
his  room,  to  which  he  was  soon  followed  by  the  proprietor  of 


SENATOR   SUMNER   IN    BALTIMORE.  159 

the  hotel,  the  late  lamented  Zenos  Barnum,  and  another  gen 
tleman.  There  he  was  informed  that  the  fact  of  his  being  in 
the  house  had  obtained  publicity,  and  that  a  large  and  angry 
crowd  was  outside  threatening  violence  and  demanding  his  life. 
His  answer  was  that  he  felt  perfectly  secure  as  long  as  he  was 
under  that  roof,  and  that  he  would  hold  the  proprietors  respon 
sible  for  any  outrage  that  might  be  attempted  upon  him.  Mr. 
Barnum  did  not  conceal  his  apprehensions  alike  for  his  great 
establishment  and  for  the  safety  of  his  guest.  Under  his  ad 
vice  Mr.  Sumner  consented  to  remove  to  a  more  inaccessible 
room,  where  he  remained  for  some  time,  discussing  the  situa 
tion  of  the  country  with  his  kind-hearted  and  generous  host. 
He  could  distinctly  hear  the  threatenings  of  the  surging  mob 
outside,  and  he  felt  that  there  was  little  doubt  that  nothing  was 
needed  but  the  opportunity  to  stimulate  them  to  the  wildest  vi 
olence.  Baltimore  was  completely  in  the  hands  of  reckless  and 
blood-thirsty  men.  They  thought  the  Government  powerless. 
Freedom  of  opinion  was  only  tolerated  on  one  side.  The  news 
papers,  with  the  exception  of  the  Baltimore  American,  added 
fuel  to  the  fire,  and  Union  men  were  constrained  to  silence  to 
save  person  and  property.  The  nation's  capital  was  almost  en 
tirely  unprotected,  and,  although  the  North  was  at  last  rous 
ing  to  a  full  sense  of  the  public  peril,  as  yet  no  troops  had  gone 
forward  in  response  to  the  call  of  the  Executive.  Acting  under 
the  advice  and  the  exhortations  of  Mr.  Barnum,  Mr.  Sumner 
rose  early  on  the  morning  of  the  iQth,  and  in  a  private  carriage 
crossed  the  then  quiet  streets  of  the  city  to  the  Philadelphia 
station,  where  he  entered  the  first  train  eastward,  reaching 
Philadelphia  in  a  few  hours.  On  the  way,  and  I  think  at 
Havre-de-Grace,  he  met  the  men  of  the  6th  Massachusetts  go 
ing  South,  and  saw  their  happy  faces  and  heard  their  joyous 
shouts.  When  he  got  to  Philadelphia  he  found  the  streets 
crowded  with  people  discussing  the  crisis.  To  get  exact  infor 
mation,  he  called  at  the  office  of  The  Press,  413  Chestnut  Street, 


l6o  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

near  Fourth,  where  he  met  Mr.  J.  G.  L.  Brown,  then  as  now  my 
business  manager,  and  learned  for  the  first  time  the  particu 
lars  of  the  attack  upon  the  6th  Massachusetts  on  their  way 
through  Baltimore.  Had  he  taken  the  train  of  the  igih  in 
stead  of  the  1 8th,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  been  among  the 
first  victims  of  the  rebellion,  and  possibly  Barnum's  Hotel 
would  have  fallen  before  the  infuriated  fiends  who  were  seeking 
for  objects  upon  which  to  wreak  their  vengeance  and  their  in 
gratitude. 

Zenos  Barnum  is  dead,  but  I  can  not  withhold  a  tribute  to  his 
memory,  nor  refuse  to  recall  the  many  happy  hours  I  spent  in 
his  society,  when  he,  McLaughlin,  and  Dorsey  had  charge  of 
the  old  hotel,  still  one  of  the  best  in  the  South.  In  the  days  be 
fore  the  war,  when  politics  were  not  divided  or  disturbed  by 
slavery,  it  was  very  agreeable  to  Northern  men  to  stop  over  and 
enjoy  its  superior  comforts,  spacious  rooms,  unrivaled  table,  and 
really  refined  society.  Every  such  visit  was  followed  by  an  en 
tertainment  at  Guy's  Monumental  House,  where  the  men  of 
both  parties  met  in  friendly  consultation,  and  where  Whigs  and 
Democrats  canvassed  candidates,  prepared  platforms,  and  laid 
plans  for  future  campaigns. 

Baltimore  was  for  many  years  the  chosen  spot  for  political 
national  conventions,  and  Barnum's  and  Guy's  the  head-quarters 
of  the  respective  factions.  It  was  in  Baltimore  that  Martin  Van 
Buren  was  nominated  and  renominated.  It  was  in  Baltimore 
where  Joseph  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  thrilled  the  nation  by  an  elec 
tric  speech  in  vindication  of  Richard  M.Johnson,  in  1840.  It 
was  in  Baltimore  that  James  K.  Polk  was  nominated,  in  1844. 
It  was  in  Baltimore,  in  1848,  that  Lewis  Cass  was  nominated. 
It  was  in  Baltimore  that  Franklin  Pierce  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats,  and  Winfield  Scott  by  the  Whigs,  in  1852.  It  was 
in  Baltimore  that  John  C.  Breckinridge  was  presented  as  the 
candidate  of  the  slaveholders,  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  ratified 
as  the  candidate  of  the  Independent  Democracy,  in  1860.  It 


BALTIMORE. 


was  in  Baltimore  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  renominated  for 
President  in  1864,  with  Andrew  Johnson  as  Vice-President. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  meeting  of  these  quadrennial  assemblages, 
their  exciting  debates,  and  the  extreme  personal  animosities  to 
which  they  gave  rise,  which  made  Baltimore  the  seat  and  centre 
of  such  persistent  opposition  to  the  Government  when  the  war 
finally  took  place.     In  all  these  conflicts  Zenos  Barnum  was 
never  a  partisan.     He  was  the  prince  of  good  fellows,  warmly 
welcoming  his  friends  and  making  no  enemies.     I  suspect  he 
was  an  Old-line  Whig  in  the  days  of  Webster  and  Clay,  but 
when  the  South  resolved  to  take  issue  with  the  North,  in  1861, 
it  was  natural  that  he  should  sympathize  with  his  own  people  ; 
yet,  if  he  did,  it  was  always  with  due  regard  to  the  feelings  of 
others.     As  the  war  progressed,  Baltimore  became  more  than 
ever  an  important  point  to  the  Government,  and  the  responsi 
bilities  of  a  hotel-keeper  like  Barnum,  in  the  midst  of  an  in 
flammable  community,  were  painfully  increased.     On  one  oc 
casion  the  general  in  command  of  the  Department  closed  the 
hotel,  and  Mr.  Barnum  came  to  Washington  to  ask  me  to  inter 
cede  for  him,  which  I  did  promptly  and  effectively,  by  appeal 
ing  to  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Stanton.     After  the 
doors  of  the  old  hotel  were  reopened,  I  received  from  my  good 
friend  a  letter  abounding  in  grateful  expressions.    He  regarded 
it  as  an  unusual  obligation,  and  I  revive  the  circumstance  now, 
not  because  I  had  a  hand  in  relieving  an  innocent  man  from 
the  follies  of  one  or  two  of  his  youthful  employes,  but  to  show 
that  the  humane  and  gentle  spirit  which  induced  him  to  inter 
fere  to  protect  Charles  Sumner  from  the  cruelty  of  the  pro- 
slavery  mob  was  not  forgotten  in  darker  or  more  exciting  times, 
either  by  himself  or  by  the  men  in  command  of  the  Govern 
ment  at  Washington. 

[August  21,  1871.] 


1 62  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


XXXIII. 

STEAM  is  your  real  revolutionist.  It  has  altered  the  physical 
geography  of  the  civilized  world.  It  has  bridged  the  seas,  par 
tially  annihilated  space  and  time,  opened  new  highways  into 
and  redeemed  the  wilderness,  neighbored  far-distant  States, 
converted  old  cities  into  new  ones,  changed  deserted  villages 
into  thriving  towns,  leveled  the  forest,  crossed  chasms  and  con 
nected  mountains,  and  elevated  skilled  labor  into  a  science. 
Imagination  is  baffled  by  its  present,  and  vainly  attempts  to  an 
ticipate  its  future  triumphs.  But  in  nothing  has  steam  so  trans 
formed  the  face  of  the  country  and  the  habits  of  the  people  as 
in  the  substitution  of  railroads  for  turnpikes.  While  I  was  pre 
paring  my  last  sketch,  in  which  I  recalled  the  genial  Zenos 
Barnum,  of  Baltimore,  to  the  thousands  who  knew  him  in  by 
gone  days,  the  famous  hotel  and  inn  keepers  of  the  past  rose 
before  me,  with  the  stage-coach,  the  Conestoga  wagon,  and  the 
ancient  system  of  land  transportation.  Where  are  they  now  ? 
Who  that  has  passed  his  half-century  does  not  remember  them 
with  pleasure  ?  In  my  young  manhood  their  decay  had  begun, 
but  it  requires  no  strong  effort  to  revive  the  long  train  of  can 
vas-covered  wagons  passing  through  my  native  town  on  their 
way  to  and  from  Pittsburgh  and  Philadelphia,  carrying  the  pro 
duce  of  the  West  in  exchange  for  the  merchandise  of  the  East, 
with  their  hale,  rough  drivers,  and  their  long  leather  whips,  the 
coronal  of  bells  on  their  horses,  and  their  stoppage  at  the  old 
taverns  for  food  and  water.  They  were  to  the  more  ostenta 
tious  stage-coach  what  the  baggage  train  is  to  the  lightning  ex 
press  of  the  present  day. 

And  when  these  coaches  dashed  into  Lancaster,  and  rushed 
down  the  streets,  the  driver  winding  a  merry  air  on  his  horn, 
accompanied  by  the  crack  of  his  long  whip,  women,  children, 
and  dogs  rushed  out  to  greet  the  meteoric  chariot  as  it  drew  up 


OLD-FASHIONED   TRAVEL.  163 

with  its  foaming  steeds  at  Slaymaker's  old  hotel,  on  East  King 
Street,  and  began  to  throw  off  the  mails,  while  the  passengers 
alighted,  thirsty,  hungry,  and  covered  with  dust.  It  was  the 
event  of  the  day.  Repeated  at  every  other  station  and  in  every 
other  town,  it  was  one  of  a  thousand  similar  pictures  in  other 
States  and  countries.  Old  England's  great  highways  were  made 
jocund  with  post-chaises,  fast  horses,  daring  drivers,  uniformed 
guards,  and  jolly  passengers.  It  was  a  favorite  amusement  for 
the  nobility  to  mount  the  box  and  hold  the  reins  with  four 
in  hand,  and  to  course  along  the  level  roads,  excelling  in 
feats  of  daring  drivership.  They  were  as  ambitious  to  lead  in 
this  sort  of  exercise  as  their  descendants  are  in  boat  and  foot 
races,  in  pugilistic  encounters,  and  general  gymnastics.  Of 
these  scenes  the  central  figure  was  always  the  inn-keeper,  who 
did  not  hold  it  beneath  his  dignity  to  stand  in  his  doorway,  en- 
girthed  in  his  white  apron,  to  "  welcome  the  coming  and  speed 
the  parting  guest."  That  class  is  nearly  extinct,  though  happily 
not  forgotten.  The  old-fashioned  publican  aspired  to  be  a  gen 
tleman,  and  was  generally  the  associate  of  gentlemen,  a  con 
noisseur  of  wines,  a  judge  of  horse-flesh,  a  critical  caterer,  and 
in  politics  so  unexceptionally  neutral  that,  when  the  probable 
votes  of  a  town  were  estimated,  it  was  generally  "  so  many 
Whigs,  so  many  Democrats,  and  so  many  tavern-keepers." 
These  Sir  Roger  De  Coverleys — for  they  were  men  of  substance 
and  hospitable  to  the  extreme — have  given  way  to  a  generation 
as  different  as  the  Conestoga  wagon  differs  from  the  locomo 
tive,  the  old  stage-driver  from  the  car-conductor,  the  railroad 
director  from  the  stockholder  of  the  turnpike  company.  They 
are  the  dilettanti  of  the  hotels,  and,  like  the  Pontiff's  robe,  rare 
ly  seen  and  much  wondered  at.  Living  in  gorgeous  private 
residences,  away  from  the  splendid  palaces  which  bear  their 
names,  they  in  fact  vicariously  feed,  room,  and  care  for  more 
human  beings  in  one  day  than  the  men  of  the  past  did  in  six 
months.  One  of  these  men  was  John  Guy,  who  may  be  called 


1 64  ANECDOTES   OF  PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  hero  of  three  cities — known  alike  in  Philadelphia,  Balti 
more,  and  Washington,  though  better  appreciated  in  Baltimore. 
Born  in  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania,  I  believe,  he  was  the 
founder  of  a  family  of  unrivaled  hotel-keepers.  He  still  lives  in 
Guy's,  on  Seventh  Street,  Philadelphia,  now  in  course  of  reha 
bilitation,  and  soon  to  expand  into  an  ostentatious  establish 
ment  on  the  European  plan,  and  in  the  unequaled  Monument 
House,  nearly  opposite  Barnum's,  in  Baltimore.  When  I  think 
of  him  I  think  also  of  Dorrance  and  Pope  Mitchell  of  the 
United  States  Hotel,  of  Joseph  Head  of  the  Mansion  House  on 
Third  Street,  of  Dunlap  of  the  City  Hotel,  of  Hartwell  of  the 
Washington  House,  and  Jones  of  the  old  Jones  Hotel,  in 
Philadelphia;  of  Gadsby  in  Washington,  Stetson  of  the  Astor 
House,  in  New  York,  and  many,  many  more.  There  is  not  a 
State  in  the  Union,  north  or  south,  which  could  not  furnish 
anecdotes  of  its  representative  inn-keepers,  of  their  relations  to 
public  men— to  Calhoun  in  South  Corolina,  to  Webster  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  to  Clay  in  Kentucky,  to  Sergeant  S.  Prentiss  in  Mis 
sissippi,  to  George  D.  Prentice  in  Louisville,  and  to  the  lawyers, 
divines,  and  orators  who  for  half  a  century  dominated  in  those 
sections.  If  these  Bonifaces  could  have  kept  records  of  their 
experience,  what  anecdotes  they  could  relate  of  the  giants  of 
the  past,  of  their  private  troubles,  their  public  ambitions,  their 
contrivances  and  their  caucuses,  their  friends  and  their  foes ! 
I  knew  many  of  them,  and  could  relate  many  interesting  inci 
dents  if  I  had  space  and  time. 

Let  me  recall  one  in  regard  to  this  same  John  Guy,  some 
times  told  by  my  friend  Dougherty,  when  we  can  win  him  to 
social  familiarity  and  make  him  forget  professional  responsibil 
ities.  Guy  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  General  Lewis  Cass, 
and  while  he  was  proprietor  of  the  National  Hotel,  in  Washing 
ton,  the  Michigan  Senator  was  among  his  favored  guests.  Guy 
dressed  like  Cass,  and  although  not  as  portly,  his  face,  inclu 
ding  the  wart,  was  strangely  similar.  One  day  a  Western  friend 


LEWIS   CASS   AND   JOHN   GUY.  165 

of  the  house  came  in  after  a  long  ride,  dusty  and  tired,  and, 
walking  up  to  the  office,  encountered  General  Cass,  who  was 
quietly  standing  there.  Mistaking  him  for  Guy,  he  slapped 
him  on  the  shoulder,  and  exclaimed,  "  Well,  old  fellow,  here  I 
am ;  the  last  time  I  hung  my  hat  up  in  your  shanty,  one  of  your 
clerks  sent  me  to  the  fourth  story ;  but  now  that  I  have  got  hold 
of  you,  I  insist  upon  a  lower  room." 

The  General,  a  most  dignified  personage,  taken  aback  by 
this  startling  salute,  coldly  replied:  "Y.ou  have  committed  a 
mistake,  sir.  I  am  not  Mr.  Guy ;  I  am  General  Cass,  of  Mich 
igan,"  and  angrily  turned  away.  The  Western  man  was  shock 
ed  at  the  unconscious  outrage  he  had  committed ;  but  before 
he  had  recovered  from  his  mortification,  General  Cass,  who  had 
passed  around  the  office,  confronted  him  again,  when,  a  second 
time  mistaking  him  for  Guy,  he  faced  him  and  said,  "  Here  you 
are  at  last.  I  have  just  made  a  devil  of  a  mistake ;  I  met  old 
Cass  and  took  him  for  you,  and  I  am  afraid  the  Michigander 
has  gone  off  mad."  What  General  Cass  would  have  said  may 
well  be  imagined,  if  the  real  Guy  had  not  approached  and  res 
cued  the  innocent  offender  from  the  twice-assailed  and  twice- 
angered  statesman. 

[August  27, 1871.] 


XXXIV. 

PARALLELS  or  contrasts  of  character  are  the  most  useful  of 
biographies.  They  are  like  studies  of  different  pictures  placed 
side  by  side.  Take  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Andrew  Johnson. 
Lincoln  was  almost  untrained  in  statecraft.  He  had  been  post 
master  of  a  little  town,  had  served  four  successive  terms  in  the 
Legislature  of  Illinois,  and  one  in  Congress  ;  was  the  only  Whig 
from  Illinois  from  1847  to  I%49)  taking  his  seat  just  as  Douglas 


166  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

took  his  in  the  Senate.  Looking  through  the  debates,  we  find 
Lincoln  among  the  most  modest  of  members.  His  utterances 
were  forcible  and  few.  It  is  easy  to  detect  the  quaint  humor 
that  figured  so  prominently  in  his  after  actions,  but  there  was 
no  frequency  or  ostentation  of  speech.  In  the  same  body  sat 
Andrew  Johnson,  the  Democratic  head  of  the  delegation  from 
Tennessee.  Less  than  two  years  older  than  Lincoln,  his  mo 
tions,  measures,  and  spoken  opinions  would  cover  a  hundred 
times  the  space  allotted  to  his  Illinois  contemporary.  Six  years 
in  the  State  Legislature,  ten  years  in  Congress,  four  years  Gov 
ernor,  five  years  United  States  Senator,  with  several  intermedi 
ate  positions,  he  was  constantly  aspiring  to  a  higher  station. 
How  significantly  the  huge  library  of  Andrew  Johnson's  talk 
compares  with  the  little  casket  of  Lincoln's  ideas !  The  loud- 
ness  and  length  of  the  one,  the  brevity  and  silence  of  the  other. 
These  two  men  were  alike  in  one  thing  only :  in  the  obscurity 
of  their  origin  and  in  the  hard  toil  of  their  early  lives.  In  ev 
ery  other  respect  they  were  opposites.  I  will  not  imitate  the 
sad  business  of  impugning  or  doubting  motives.  Let  us  hope 
that  both  were  honest,  as  indeed  the  just  judgment  of  all  classes 
and  writers  now  concedes  Abraham  Lincoln  to  have  been.  But 
how  differently  they  used  their  weapons!  Lincoln,  without 
seeming  to  aspire,  reached  the  highest  station  in  the  world ; 
while  Johnson,  always  reaching  forth  for  the  golden  fruit,  got 
it,  and  lost  it  in  a  fit  of  inconceivable  madness.  Abraham  Lin 
coin  died  at  the  best  moment  for  himself;  Andrew  Johnson 
lives  to  prove  how  great  opportunities  may  be  wasted. 

In  many  respects  Abraham  Lincoln  had  few  parallels.  He 
was  most  considerate  of  the  feelings  and  deservings  of  others. 
I  have  related  how,  before  I  ever  saw  or  knew  him,  he  wrote 
me  a  letter,  directly  after  his  election  in  1860,  thanking  me  for 
what  he  was  pleased  to  call  my  services  in  resisting  the  pro 
scriptions  of  the  Buchanan  Administration,  and  proffering  a 
friendship  which  never  abated.  When  the  Baltimore  Conven- 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  167 

tion,  which  renominated  him  for  President,  was  about  to  meet, 
and  Mr.  Hamlin  declined  being  a  candidate  for  Vice-President 
in  order  that  the  Democratic  element  might  be  represented,  Mr. 
Lincoln  personally  advocated  Andrew  Johnson,  and  was  backed 
by  Mr.  Seward,  who  was,  however,  interested  in  the  defeat  of 
Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  pressed  for  the  same  post  by  his  oppo 
nents  in  New  York.  Although  Douglas  defeated  Lincoln  for 
Senator  in  1858,  he  gave  him  his  confidence  immediately  after 
his  inauguration,  and  never  failed  in  generosity  to  his  widow 
and  children.  When  I  was  defeated  for  Clerk  of  the  House  in 
March,  1861,  he  called  in  person  upon  a  number  of  Senators 
and  asked  them  to  vote  for  me  for  Secretary  of  that  body. 
When  Stonewall  Jackson  was  killed,  and  one  of  my  assistant 
editors  spoke  kindly  of  the  better  part  of  his  character,  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  wrote  me  commending  the  tribute  to  a  brave  ad 
versary.  If  you  visited  Lincoln  he  never  wearied  you  with 
dreary  politics  or  heavy  theories,  or  glorified  himself  or  his  do 
ings.  In  every  crisis  he  sought  the  advice,  not  of  his  enemies, 
but  of  his  friends.  To  his  convictions  he  was  ever  true,  but  his 
opinions  were  always  subject  to  revision.  He  delighted  in  par 
ables,  and  especially  in  the  rude  jokes  of  the  South  and  the 
West.  He  hailed  Artemus  Ward  and  Petroleum  Nasby  as  ben 
efactors  of  the  human  race,  and  no  witticism,  whether  delicate 
or  broad,  escaped  his  keen  appreciation.  He  was,  withal,  a 
man  of  sentiment,  reading  Shakespeare  like  a  philosopher,  and 
remembering  the  best  passages.  A  little  poem  written  by  Fran 
cis  De  Haes  Janvier,  of  Philadelphia,  called  "  The  Sleeping 
Sentinel,"  was  an  especial  favorite;  and  "The  Patriot's  Oath" 
and  "  Sheridan's  Ride,"  by  Thomas  Buchanan  Read,  were  al 
ways  recited  at  his  request  by  Mr.  Murdoch,  whenever  that  loyal 
actor  visited  the  metropolis.  He  was  neither  boisterous  nor  pro 
fane.  He  cared  little  for  the  pleasures  of  the  table;  and,  al 
though  reared  among  a  frontier  people  largely  addicted  to  in 
toxicating  drinks,  he  preferred  water  as  a  beverage.  He  liked 


1 68  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  theatre,  especially  when  Edwin  Forrest,  Joseph  Jefferson, 
John  Brougham,  or  John  S.  Clarke  was  the  star.  Though  he 
frequently  accompanied  Mrs.  Lincoln  to  the  opera,  it  was  rath 
er  in  obedience  to  a  social  demand  or  an  eagerness  for  rest  in 
the  corner  of  his  box  than  a  taste  for  scientific  music.  He  was 
a  capital  peacemaker,  and  was  especially  resolute  in  refusing 
to  adopt  the  enemies  of  his  friends.  He  had  a  horror  of  mak 
ing  speeches,  although  a  fine  colloquial  orator,  and  when  he 
did  address  the  people  it  was  in  short  sentences,  and  only  for  a 
few  moments  at  a  time.  In  these  addresses,  as  well  as  in  his 
messages  and  letters,  he  said  things  that  will  survive  for  many 
generations.  I  give  a  few  at  random  : 

From  his  first  annual  message,  March  9, 1861 : 
"  There  are  already  among  us  those  who,  if  the  Union  be  pre 
served,  will  live  to  see  it  contain  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions. 
The  struggle  of  to-day  is  not  altogether  for  to-day — it  is  for  a 
vast  future  also.  With  a  reliance  on  Providence,  all  the  more 
firm  and  earnest,  let  us  proceed  in  the  great  task  which  events 
have  devolved  upon  us." 

From  his  remarks  at  a  Union  meeting  in  Washington,  D.  C., 
August  6, 1863  : 

"  There  has  been  a  very  widespread  attempt  to  have  a  quar 
rel  between  General  McClellan  and  the  Secretary  of  War. 
Now  I  occupy  a  position  that  enables  me  to  observe  that  these 
two  gentlemen  are  not  nearly  so  deep  in  the  quarrel  as  some 
pretending  to  be  their  friends.  General  McClellan's  attitude 
is  such  that,  in  the  very  selfishness  of  his  nature,  he  can  not 
but  wish  to  be  successful,  and  I  hope  he  will ;  and  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  is  in  precisely  the  same  situation.  If  the  military 
commanders  in  the  field  can  not  be  successful,  not  only  the 
Secretary  of  War,  but  myself,  for  the  time  being  the  master  of 
them  both,  can  not  but  be  failures." 

From  his  letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  August  22,  1862  : 
"  The  sooner  the  national  authority  can  be  restored,  the  near 
er  the  Union  will  be— the  Union  as  it  was. 


LINCOLN'S  TERSENESS.  169 

"If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they 
could  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them. 

"  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless 
they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree 
with  them. 

"  My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  not  either  to 
save  or  destroy  slavery. 

"  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would 
do  it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would 
do  it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  oth 
ers  alone,  I  would  also  do  that. 

"  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do  because 
I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union ;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  for 
bear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union. 

"I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am  doing 
hurts  the  cause,  and  shall  do  more  whenever  I  believe  doing 
more  will  help  the  cause. 

"  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors,  and 
I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true 
views." 

From  his  letter  to  the  Illinois  Convention,  August  26, 1863  : 

"  Peace  does  not  appear  so  distant  as  it  did.  I  hope  it  will 
come  soon,  and  come  to  stay;  and  so  come  as  to  be  worth  the 
keeping  in  all  future  time.  It  will  then  have  been  proved  that 
among  freemen  there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  from  the 
ballot  to  the  bullet,  and  that  they  who  take  such  appeal  are 
sure  to  lose  their  case  and  pay  the  cost.  And  there  will  be 
some  black  men  who  can  remember  that,  with  silent  tongue  and 
clenched  teeth  and  steady  eye  and  well-poised  bayonet,  they 
have  helped  mankind  on  to  this  great  consummation,  while  I  fear 
there  will  be  some  white  ones  unable  to  forget  that,  with  malig 
nant  heart  and  deceitful  speech,  they  have  striven  to  hinder  it." 

From  his  letter  to  Colonel  Hodges,  of  Kentucky,  April  4, 1864 : 

"  I  claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess  that 

H 


1 70  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

events  have  controlled  me.  Now,  at  the  end  of  three  years' 
struggle,  the  nation's  condition  is  not  what  either  party,  or  any 
man,  devised  or  expected.  God  alone  can  claim  it.  Whither 
it  is  tending  seems  plain.  If  God  now  wills  the  removal  of  a 
great  wrong,  and  wills  also  that  we  of  the  North,  as  well  as  you 
of  the  South,  shall  pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that  wrong, 
impartial  history  will  find  therein  new  causes  to  attest  and  re 
vere  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God." 

From  his  speech  at  the  Philadelphia  Fair,  June  16, 1864  : 

"  It  is  a  pertinent  question,  often  asked  in  the  mind  privately, 
and  from  one  to  the  other,  When  is  the  war  to  end  ?  Surely,  I 
feel  as  deep  an  interest  in  this  question  as  any  other  can,  but  I 
do  not  wish  to  name  a  day,  a  month,  or  a  year  when  it  is  to 
end.  I  do  not  wish  to  run  any  risk  of  seeing  the  time  come 
without  our  being  ready  for  the  end,  for  fear  of  disappointment 
because  the  time  had  come  and  not  the  end.  We  accepted 
this  war  for  an  object,  a  worthy  object,  and  the  war  will  end 
when  that  object  is  attained.  Under  God,  I  hope  it  never  will 
end  until  that  time.  Speaking  of  the  present  campaign,  Gen 
eral  Grant  is  reported  to  have  said, '  I  am  going  through  on  this 
line  if  it  takes  all  summer.'  This  war  has  taken  three  years; 
it  was  begun  or  accepted  upon  the  line  of  restoring  the  national 
authority  over  the  whole  national  domain ;  and  for  the  Ameri 
can  people,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  enables  me  to  speak,  I  say 
we  are  going  through  on  this  line  if  it  takes  three  years  more." 

From  his  second  annual  message  : 

"  The  dogmas  of  the  quiet  past  are  inadequate  to  the  stormy 
present.  The  occasion  is  piled  high  with  difficulty,  and  we 
must  rise  with  the  occasion.  As  our  case  is  new,  so  we  must 
think  anew  and  act  anew.  We  must  disenthral  ourselves,  and 
then  we  shall  save  our  country. 

"  Fellow-citizens,  we  can  not  escape  history.  We,  of  this  Con 
gress  and  this  Administration,  will  be  remembered  in  spite  of 
ourselves.  No  personal  significance,  or  insignificance,  can 


PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  I  71 

spare  one  or  another  of  us.  The  fiery  trial  through  which  we 
pass  will  light  us  down,  in  honor  or  dishonor,  to  the  latest  gen 
eration.  We  say  we  are  for  the  Union.  The  world  will  not 
forget  that  we  say  this.  We  know  how  to  save  the  Union. 
The  world  knows  we  do  know  how  to  save  it.  We — even  we 
here — hold  the  power  and  bear  the  responsibility.  In  giving 
freedom  to  the  slave  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free — honorable 
alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we  preserve.  We  shall  nobly 
save,  or  meanly  lose,  the  last,  best  hope  of  earth.  Other  means 
may  succeed ;  this  could  not  fail.  The  way  is  plain,  peaceful, 
generous,  just — a  way  which,  if  followed,  the  world  will  forever 
applaud,  and  God  must  forever  bless." 

From  his  address  at  the  consecration  of  the  National  Ceme 
tery  at  Gettysburg,  November  19, 1864  : 

"  But  in  a  larger  sense  we  can  not  dedicate,  we  can  not  conse 
crate,  we  can  not  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our 
power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note  nor  long 
remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they 
did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated  here 
to  the  unfinished  work  that  they  have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried 
on.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task 
remaining  before  us,  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  in 
creased  devotion  to  the  cause  for  which  they  here  gave  the  last 
full  measure  of  devotion  ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  the  nation  shall,  under 
God,  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  the  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish 
from  the  earth." 

From  his  letter  to  a  committee  of  New  York  workingmen, 
March  21, 1864  : 

"  None  are  so  deeply  interested  to  resist  the  present  rebellion 
as  the  working  people.  Let  them  beware  of  prejudices  working 
disunion  and  hostility  among  themselves.-  The  most  notable 


172  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

feature  of  a  disturbance  in  your  city  last  summer  was  the  hang 
ing  of  some  working  people  by  other  working  people.  It  should 
never  be  so.  The  strongest  bond  of  human  sympathy,  outside 
of  the  family  relation,  should  be  one  uniting  all  working  people, 
of  all  nations,  tongues,  and  kindreds.  Nor  should  this  lead  to 
a  war  upon  property  or  the  owners  of  property.  Property  is 
the  fruit  of  labor ;  property  is  desirable ;  is  a  positive  good  in 
the  world.  That  some  should  be  rich  shows  that  others  may 
become  rich,  and  hence  is  just  encouragement  to  industry  and 
enterprise.  Let  not  him  who  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house 
of  another,  but  let  him  labor  diligently  and  build  one  for  him 
self;  thus  by  example  assuring  that  his  own  shall  be  safe  from 
violence  when  built." 

To  a  club  of  Pennsylvanians,  November  8,  1864 : 
"  I  am  thankful  to  God  for  this  approval  of  the  people ;  but, 
while  deeply  gratified  for  this  mark  of  their  confidence  in  me, 
if  I  know  my  heart,  my  gratitude  is  free  from  any  taint  of  per 
sonal  triumph.  I  do  not  impugn  the  motives  of  any  one  op- 
Dosed  to  me.  It  is  not  pleasure  to  me  to  triumph  over  any 
one ;  but  I  give  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this  evidence  of  the 
people's  resolution  to  stand  by  free  government  and  the  rights 
of  humanity." 

To  political  clubs  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  December  TO,  1864 : 
"  But  the  election,  along  with  its  incidental  and  undesired 
strife,  has  done  good  too.  It  has  demonstrated  that  a  people's 
government  can  sustain  a  national  election  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  civil  war.  [Renewed  cheers.]  Until  now  it  has  not  been 
known  to  the  world  that  this  was  a  possibility.  It  shows,  also, 
how  sound  and  how  strong  we  still  are.  It  shows  that,  even 
among  candidates  of  the  same  party,  he  who  is  most  devoted 
to  the  Union  and  most  opposed  to  treason  can  receive  most  of 
the  people's  vote.  [Applause.] 

"  It  shows,  also,  to  the   extent  yet  unknown,  that  we  have 
more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war  began.    Gold  is  good 


PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  173 

in  its  place,  but  living,  brave,  patriotic  men  are  better  than  gold. 
[Cheers  and  other  demonstrations  of  applause.]" 

On  the  adoption  of  the  anti-slavery  amendment  this  speech 
from  the  Presidential  Mansion,  February  i,  1865  : 

"  A  question  might  be  raised  whether  the  proclamation  was 
legally  valid.  It  might  be  urged  that  it  only  aided  those  who 
came  into  our  lines,  and  that  it  was  inoperative  as  to  those  who 
did  not  give  themselves  up ;  or  that  it  would  have  no  effect 
upon  the  children  of  slaves  boni  hereafter ;  in  fact,  it  would  be 
urged  that  it  did  not  meet  the  evil.  But  the  amendment  is  a 
king's  cure-all  for  all  the  evils.  [Applause.]  It  winds  the  whole 
thing  up." 

On  being  officially  notified  of  his  re-election  : 

"  Having  served  four  years  in  the  depths  of  a  great  and  yet 
unended  national  peril,  I  can  view  this  call  to  a  second  term  in 
nowise  more  flattering  to  myself  than  as  an  expression  of  the 
public  judgment  that  I  may  better  finish  a  difficult  work,  in 
which  I  have  labored  from  the  first,  than  could  any  one  less 
severely  schooled  to  the  task.  In  this  view,  and  with  assured 
reliance  on  that  Almighty  Ruler  who  has  so  graciously  sustained 
us  thus  far,  and  with  increased  gratitude  to  the  generous  people 
for  their  continued  confidence,  I  accept  the  renewed  trust  with 
its  yet  onerous  and  perplexing  duties  and  responsibilities." 

From  his  second  inaugural  address  : 

"  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those 
offenses  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but 
which,  having  continued  through  his  appointed  time,  he  now 
wills  to  remove,  and  that  he  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this 
terrible  war,  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came, 
shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attri 
butes  which  the  believers  in  a  God  always  ascribe  to  him? 
Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty 
scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills 
that  it  continues  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondsmen's 


174  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid 
by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand 
years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  'The  judgments  of  the  Lord 
are  true  and  righteous  altogether.' 

"  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness 
in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to 
care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow 
and  his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just 
and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

On  the  slaves  fighting  for  the  rebels,  March  u,  1865  : 

"  There  are  but  few  aspects  of  this  great  war  on  which  I  have 
not  already  expressed  my  views  by  speaking  or  writing.  There 
is  one — the  recent  effort  of  l  our  erring  brethren,'  sometimes  so 
called,  to  employ  the  slaves  in  their  armies.  The  great  ques 
tion  with  them  has  been,  '  Will  the  negro  fight  for  them  ?'  They 
ought  to  know  better  than  we,  and  doubtless  do  know  better  than 
we.  I  may  incidentally  remark,  however,  that  having  in  my 
life  heard  many  arguments — or  strings  of  words  meant  to  pass 
for  arguments — intended  to  show  that  the  negro  ought  to  be  a 
slave,  that  if  he  shall  now  really  fight  to  keep  himself  a  slave, 
it  will  be  a  far  better  argument  why  he  should  remain  a  slave 
than  I  have  ever  before  heard.  He,  perhaps,  ought  to  be  a 
slave,  if  he  desires  it  ardently  enough  to  fight  for  it.  Or  if  one 
out  of  four  will,  for  his  own  freedom,  fight  to  keep  the  other 
three  in  slavery,  he  ought  to  be  a  slave  for  his  selfish  meanness. 
I  have  always  thought  that  all  men  should  be  free  ;  but  if  any 
should  be  slaves,  it  should  be  first  those  who  desire  it  for  them 
selves,  and  secondly  those  who  desire  it  for  others.  Whenever 
I  hear  any  one  arguing  for  slavery,  I  feel  a  strong  impulse  to 
see  it  tried  on  him  personally." 

On  Victory  and  Reconstruction,  the  last  speech  of  his  life, 
April  n,  1865  : 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  SPEECH.-  175 

"  Some  twelve  thousand  voters  in  the  heretofore  slave  State 
of  Louisiana  have  sworn  allegiance  to  the  Union,  assumed  to 
be  the  rightful  political  power  of  the  State,  held  elections,  or 
ganized  a  State  government,  adopted  a  free  State  constitution, 
giving  the  benefit  of  public  schools  equally  to  black  and  white, 
and  empowering  the  Legislature  to  confer  the  elective  franchise 
upon  the  colored  man.  Their  Legislature  has  already  voted  to 
ratify  the  constitutional  amendment  recently  passed  by  Con 
gress  abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  nation.  These  twelve 
thousand  persons  are  thus  fully  committed  to  the  Union  and  to 
perpetual  freedom  in  the  State ;  committed  to  the  very  things 
and  nearly  all  the  things  the  nation  wants,  and  they  ask  the 
nation's  recognition  and  its  assistance  to  make  good  that  com 
mittal.  Now,  if  we  reject  and  spurn  them,  we  do  our  utmost  to 
disorganize  and  disperse  them.  We,  in  effect,  say  to  the  white 
men,  '  You  are  worthless,  or  worse ;  we  will  neither  help  you 
nor  be  helped  by  you.'  To  the  blacks  we  say,  '  This  cup  of 
Liberty  which  these,  your  old  masters,  hold  to  your  lips,  we  will 
dash  from  you,  and  leave  you  to  the  chances  of  gathering  the 
spilled  and  scattered  contents  in  some  vague  and  undefined 
when,  where,  and  how.'  If  this  course,  discouraging  and  par 
alyzing  both  white  and  black,  has  any  tendency  to  bring  Loui 
siana  into  proper  practical  relations  with  the  Union,  I  have,  so 
far,  been  unable  to  perceive  it.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we  recog 
nize  and  sustain  the  new  government  of  Louisiana,  the  converse 
of  all  this  is  made  true. 

"  We  encourage  the  hearts  and  nerve  the  arms  of  the  twelve 
thousand  to  adhere  to  their  work,  and  argue  for  it  and  proselyte 
for  it  and  fight  for  it,  and  feed  it  and  grow  it  and  ripen  it  to  a 
complete  success.  The  colored  man,  too,  seeing  all  united  for 
him,  is  inspired  with  vigilance  and  energy  and  daring  to  the 
same  end.  Grant  that  he  desires  the  elective  franchise,  will  he 
not  attain  it  sooner  by  saving  the  already  advanced  steps  to 
ward  it  than  by  running  backward  over  them  ?  Concede  that 


176  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  new  government  of  Louisiana  is  only  to  what  it  should  be 
as  the  egg  is  to  the  fowl  j  we  shall  sooner  have  the  fowl  by 
hatching  the  egg  than  by  smashing  it. 

"Again,  if  we  reject  Louisiana,  we  also  reject  one  vote  in 
favor  of  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  National  Constitution. 
To  meet  this  proposition  it  has  been  argued  that  no  more  than 
three  fourths  of  those  States  which  have  not  attempted  seces 
sion  are  necessary  to  validly  ratify  the  amendment.  I  do  not 
commit  myself  against  this  further  than  to  say  that  such  a  rati 
fication  would  be  questionable,  and  sure  to  be  persistently 
questioned ;  whilst  a  ratification  by  three  fourths  of  all  the 
States  would  be  unquestioned  and  unquestionable." 

I  think  I  never  saw  him  out  of  temper  but  once,  and  that  was 
when  I  presented  him  the  unanimous  confirmation  of  a  certain 
personage  for  a  high  office.  "  Why  did  the  Senate  not  confirm 

Mr. and  Mr. ?     My  friends  knew  I  wanted  this  done, 

and  I  wanted  it  done  to-day  ;"  and  then  he  used  certain  strong 
expressions  against  the  successful  person.  I  looked  at  him  with 
some  surprise,  never  having  seen  him  in  such  a  mood,  and  said, 
"Why,  Mr.  Lincoln,  you  seem  to  hold  me  responsible  for  the 
act  of  the  Senate,  when  you  must  be  aware  of  the  custom  under 
which  that  body  acted."  "  Oh,  no,"  was  his  reply;  "  I  was  not 
scolding  you,  my  friend,  but  I  fear  I  have  been  caught  in  a  trap." 

Many  a  fierce  conflict  took  place  in  his  presence  between 
angry  politicians,  but  it  required  a  very  strong  provocation  to 
overbalance  his  judgment  or  his  equanimity.  Not  so,  however, 
with  an  appeal  for  mercy  ;  not  so  with  a  petition  from  the  poor. 
Here  he  was  as  weak  as  woman,  and  more  than  once  mingled 
his  tears  with  the  gentler  sex. 

There  are  few  parallels  to  such  a  character,  but  many  con 
trasts. 

The  contrast  between  Lincoln  and  Johnson  may  be  illustra 
ted  by  an  incident  connected  with  the  unhappy  fourth  of  March, 
1865,  when  Andrew  Johnson  was  inaugurated  Vice-President 


INCOHERENT  VICE-PRESIDENT.  177 

in  the  Senate  chamber.  I  do  not  desire  to  see  the  curtain  rise 
before  a  scene  that  both  parties  seem  willing  to  expunge — the 
Republicans,  who  apologized  for  it  when  it  occurred,  and  the 
Democrats,  who  regretted  it  after  Johnson  joined  their  despair 
ing  columns.  But  I  can  never  forget  President  Lincoln's  face 
as  he  came  into  the  Senate  Chamber  while  Johnson  was  deliv 
ering  his  incoherent  harangue.  Lincoln  had  been  detained 
signing  the  bills  that  had  just  passed  the  old  Congress,  and 
could  not  witness  the  regular  opening  of  the  new  Senate  till 
the  ceremonies  had  fairly  commenced.  He  took  his  seat  facing 
the  brilliant  and  surprised  audience,  and  heard'  all  that  took 
place  with  unutterable  sorrow.  He  then  spoke  his  short  inau 
gural  from  the  middle  portico  of  the  Capitol,  and  rode  quickly 
home.  Bitter  maledictions  were  immediately  hurled  against 
the  new  Vice-President.  I  hastened  to  his  defense  to  the  best 
of  my  abilities,  believing  the  affair  to  have  been  an  accident. 
Threats  of  impeachment  were  common  in  both  parties,  espe 
cially  among  the  Democrats;  and  the  crusade  got  so  fierce  at 
last  that  I  found  myself  included  among  those  who  had  helped 
Mr.  Johnson  to  his  exposure.  But  no  voice  of  anger  was  heard 
from  Abraham  Lincoln.  While  nearly  all  censured  and  many 
threatened,  Mr.  Lincoln  simply  said,  "It  has  been  a  severe 
lesson  for  Andy,  but  I  do  not  think  he  will  do  it  again." 

In  a  little  more  than  a  month,  Lincoln  was  in  his  grave  and 
Johnson  his  successor.  Both  have  had  their  trial  before  the 
same  people.  The  verdict  on  each  is  irreversible.  What  was 
at  first  a  parallel  has  become  a  contrast.  And  this  contrast 
grows  stronger  with  every  hour,  and  will  stand  through  all  time 
as  a  warning  to  the  nations. 

[September  3,  1871.] 

H2 


178  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 


XXXV. 

VERY  many  people  are  exercised  about  the  growth  of  monop 
olies.  Do  they  ever  think  of  the  monopoly  of  government  and 
legislation  by  the  lawyers  ?  I  do  not  repeat  a  prejudice,  but  a 
fact.  Take  a  seat  in  the  gallery  of  the  Senate  or  the  House  in 
Washington,  or  in  any  of  the  State  Legislatures,  and  you  will 
note  that  the  controlling  minds,  with  very  few  exceptions,  are 
lawyers.  All  our  Presidents  were  educated  at  the  bar  except 
Washington,  Harrison,  Taylor,  and  Grant.  Most  persons  for 
get  that  Andrew  Jackson's  early  life,  even  beyond  his  thirtieth 
year,  was  given  to  the  law,  as  United  States  District  Attorney 
for  the  Territory  of  Western  North  Carolina,  and  as  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  new  State  of  Tennessee  ;  that  James 
K.  Polk  was  one  of  the  busiest  men  on  his  circuit;  that  Millard 
Fillmore  (at  first  a  tailor's  apprentice),  Franklin  Pierce,  James 
Buchanan,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  were  distinguished  lawyers. 
It  is  true  that  Andrew  Johnson  was  in  no  sense  a  lawyer,  but 
he  had  been  long  in  politics  and  knew  how  to  avail  himself  of 
lawyers.  The  Southern  politicians  of  the  generation  after  Wash 
ington,  Jefferson,  and  Monroe,  such  as  Clay,  Calhoun,  Critten- 
den,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  George  Poindexter,  Bailie  Peyton, 
Henry  A.  Wise,  Jefferson  Davis,  Robert  Toombs,  and  W.  H. 
Roane,  were  famous  at  the  bar  before  entering  public  life.  Sam 
Houston,  of  Texas,  was  not  a  lawyer,  nor  Lewis  F.  Linn,  Col 
onel  Benton's  handsome  colleague  from  Missouri,  nor  William 
M.  Gwin,  Senator  from  California,  nor  his  martyr-colleague, 
David  C.  Broderick ;  but  such  exceptions  only  strengthen  the 
rule  that  the  legal  profession  is,  after  all,  the  sure  secret  of  suc 
cessful  leadership.  I  have  often  been  struck  with  the  dogma 
tism  of  the  attorneys  who  came  into  Congress  after  a  prosper 
ous  career,  and  the  deference  paid  to  them  by  those  of  stronger 
minds  and  larger  experience.  They  assert  their  old  habits 


LAWYERS   IN   CONGRESS.  179 

while  they  were  advocates  or  judges.  W.  Pitt  Fessenden,  of 
Maine,  Jacob  Collamer,  of  Vermont,  Reverdy  Johnson,  of  Mary 
land,  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  John  Hickman,  of  Pennsylvania, 
were  signal  illustrations.  Their  opinions  were  given  with  an 
ex  cathedra  air,  and  generally  submitted  to.  The  privileges  of 
lawyers  in  Congress  have  often  excited  complaint.  They  can 
practice  in  the  courts,  even  in  cases  upon  which  they  may  have 
voted  in  Congress.  Many  do  not  scruple  to  attend  to  business 
in  the  Departments  and  take  fees  for  their  services,  but  the  lay 
men — the  merchants,  the  physicians,  and  the  manufacturers — 
can  not,  uncensured,  follow  their  example,  while  holding  a  place 
in  the  national  councils.  What  was  true  in  this  respect  in  the 
past  is  more  true  at  the  present,  and  will  be  truer  of  the  future. 
The  law  is  the  royal  road  to  eminence  in  this  country,  whatever 
men  may  say  to  the  contrary ;  and  it  is  natural  that  it  should 
be  so,  as  government,  property,  and  personal  rights  are  vitally 
dependent  upon  law  :  thus  all  Americans  ought  to  include  some 
thing  of  legal  knowledge  in  their  early  education.  In  England 
every  statesman  is  reared,  if  not  to  the  bar,  at  least  to  a  knowl 
edge  of  jurisprudence.  First  take  a  thorough  classical  educa 
tion  as  a  foundation,  and  build  on  it  a  complete  insight  into  the 
common  law  and  of  the  laws  of  nations.  Such  is  the  British 
ideal.  Ordinary  minds,  thoroughly  conversant  with  legal  prec 
edents  and  authorities,  wield  a  large  influence  in  public  bodies. 
Every  man  of  business  consults  his  lawyer  more  frequently  than 
his  physician.  The  youth  who  varies  his  collegiate  course  by 
lessons  in  the  law  academy,  emigrates  to  the  West  with  rare 
advantages  over  those  who  are  not  so  equipped.  Our  Delegates, 
Senators,  and  Representatives  from  the  new  States  and  Terri 
tories  are  lawyers  almost  without  exception.  A  profession 
which  clothes  its  disciples  with  so  many  facilities  deserves  more 
attention  than  it  has  received  from  scholastic  institutions.  I 
do  not  insist  that  all  our  young  men  should  study  the  law,  but 
where  the  acquisition  of  it  is  so  easy  and  the  possession  of  it  so 


l8o  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

useful,  it  certainly  deserves  consideration  at  the  hands  of  those 
who  direct  the  instruction  of  the  people.  No  citizen  is  any  the 
worse  for  such  an  acquisition. 

More  than  a  year  ago  I  sat  among  the  spectators  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  Howard  University  in  the  city  of  Washing 
ton,  while  Professor  John  M.  Langston  presided  over  the  exer 
cises  of  a  class  of  colored  young  men,  just  completing  their  le 
gal  studies.  Some  of  them  had  only  a  year  before  been  unable 
to  read  and  write,  and  one  bright,  black  fellow  was  especially 
patronized  by  the  Professor,  because  six  months  before  he  did 
not  know  his  alphabet.  Nearly  all  had  been  slaves.  There 
were  oral  and  written  arguments.  The  manner  in  which  they 
spoke  or  read  their  productions  displayed  extraordinary  talent. 
I  thought  I  could  detect  in  their  flowing  cadences  and  graceful 
gestures  close  copies  of  the  old  Southern  statesmen,  who  in  past 
years  lorded  it  over  both  parties.  There  was  scarcely  an  error 
of  grammar  or  pronunciation.  The  logic  and  the  appreciation 
of  the  subjects  treated,  which  included  landlord  and  tenant, 
titles  to  real  estate,  divorce,  borrowing  and  lending,  promissory 
notes,  etc.,  proved  not  only  careful  study,  but  intense  deter 
mination  to  succeed.  Among  the  candidates  was  a  woman 
who  read  a  clear  and  compact  treatise  on  a  difficult  legal  prob 
lem,  in  the  enunciation  and  preparation  of  which  she  exhibited 
the  precision  of  an  expert  and  the  condensation  of  a  thinker. 
I  doubt  whether  the  older  and  more  extensive  Law  School  con 
nected  with  Columbia  College,  where  the  offspring  of  the  other, 
and  what  is  called  the  superior  race,  are  educated,  could  show, 
all  things  considered,  an  equal  number  of  graduates  as  well 
grounded  and  as  completely  armed  for  the  battle  of  the  future. 
There  are  colored  lawyers  in  most  of  our  courts,  even  in  the 
highest  judiciary.  They  are  the  pioneers  of  an  interesting  and 
exciting  destiny.  With  them,  unlike  their  more  fortunate  white 
brethren,  the  bitterest  struggle  begins  when  they  receive  their 
sheepskins.  They  go  forth  to  war  against  a  tempest  of  bigotry 


CLAY  AND   BUCHANAN.  l8l 

and  prejudice.  They  will  have  to  fight  their  way  into  society, 
and  to  contend  with  jealousy  and  hate  in  the  jury-box  and  in 
the  court-room,  but  they  will  win,  as  surely  as  ambition,  genius, 
and  courage  are  gifts,  not  of  race  or  condition,  but  of  God 
alone. 

[September  10,  1871.] 


XXXVI. 

HENRY  CLAY  never  fully  forgave  James  Buchanan  for  the 
part  he  played  in  1824-25  in  the  celebrated  bargain  and  sale 
by  which  it  was  charged  that  Clay  gave  the  vote  of  Kentucky 
to  John  Quincy  Adams  for  President  instead  of  General  Jack 
son,  in  consideration  of  his  subsequent  appointment  by  Adams 
to  the  Department  of  State.  Buchanan  was  then  a  Representa 
tive  in  Congress  from  the  old  Lancaster,  Chester,  and  Dela 
ware  district  in  Pennsylvania.  Chosen  originally  as  a  Federal 
ist,  he  became  a  Democrat  under  the  influence  of  Jackson's 
popularity,  while  Clay,  originally  a  Democrat,  became  a  violent 
Whig  antagonist  of  Jackson  and  his  party.  In  1824-25  Bu 
chanan  was  in  his  thirty-fifth  year,  and  Clay  in  his  forty-eighth. 
The  accusation  that  Clay  had  supported  Adams  for  a  place  in 
his  Cabinet,  long  insisted  upon  by  his  adversaries,  aroused  the 
bitterest  passions,  and  was  haughtily  and  indignantly  repelled 
by  himself.  He  was  made  to  believe  that  the  story  was  started 
by  the  young  member  from  Lancaster,  but  this  was  always  de 
nied  by  the  latter,  and  he  wrote  several  letters  effectually  dis 
proving  it,  but  they  were  not  satisfactory  to  the  imperious  Ken- 
tuckian.  It  will  be  remembered  that  John  Randolph,  of  Vir 
ginia,  was  one  of  Clay's  fiercest  assailants,  and  he  carried  his 
enmity  so  far  that  it  led  to  a  duel  between  them,  which  termi 
nated  without  bloodshed. 


182  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Some  ten  years  later  Clay  and  Buchanan  were  both  in  the 
United  States  Senate  together,  and  the  latter  was  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Democracy.  Clay  did  not  conceal  his  dislike  of 
the  Pennsylvanian,  and  sought  every  occasion  to  show  it.  One 
memorable  day  he  rose  and  made  a  studied  attack  upon  the 
Democrats,  and  especially  upon  General  Jackson.  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  was  put  forward  to  answer  him,  which  he  did  with  his 
best  ability.  When  he  took  his  seat  Mr.  Clay  rose  with  well- 
feigned  surprise,  and  sarcastically  remarked  that  "  he  had  made 
no  allusion  to  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania.  He  was  refer 
ring  to  the  leaders,  not  to  the  subordinates  of  the  Democracy." 
Upon  which  Buchanan  took  the  floor  and  said  that  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  was  certainly  in  error,  because  he  had  pointedly 
and  repeatedly  looked  at  him  while  he  was  speaking.  Clay 
quickly  and  sneeringly  retorted  by  alluding  to  Buchanan's  slight 
obliquity  of  vision.  "  I  beg  to  say,  Mr.  President,"  he  remarked, 
"that  the  mistake  was  the  Senator's,  not  mine.  Unlike  him, 
sir,  I  do  not  look  one  way  and  row  another."  It  was  a  cruel 
thrust  j  and  when  a  gentleman  reproached  Clay  for  his  harsh 
ness,  he  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  said,  "  Oh,  d — n  him  !  he 
deserved  it.  He  writes  letters  /"  On  another  occasion  Bu 
chanan  defended  himself  against  the  charge  of  hostility  to  the 
second  war  with  England  by  showing  that  he  had  formed  a 
troop  of  Lancaster  horse,  and  rode 'to  Baltimore  to  resist  the 
invader.  "  Yes,  Mr.  President,"  was  Clay's  prompt  rejoinder, 
"  I  remember  that  event,  and  I  remember  also  that  by  the  time 
the  Senator  got  into  Maryland  the  enemy  had  fled.  Doubtless 
they  heard  of  the  approach  of  the  distinguished  gentleman,  and 
retired  before  the  prestige  of  his  courage." 

But  time,  if  it  does  not  make  all  things  even,  mollifies  the 
passions  of  men.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  too  much  a  man  of  the 
World — too  accomplished  a  courtier — not  to  soften  the  asperity 
of  as  proud  a  spirit  as  Clay.  They  frequently  met  in  society  in 
after  years,  especially  at  the  dinner-table.  If  they  did  not  be- 


CITIES   OF   THE   DEAD.  183 

come  friends,  they  at  least  ceased  to  be  enemies.  And  in 
1856,  when  Buchanan  became  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
President,  he  had  no  more  hearty  supporter  than  the  son  of  the 
Great  Kentuckian,  James  B.  Clay,  who,  after  having  served  in  the 
Confederate  army,  died  at  Montreal  on  the  26th  of  January,i864. 
Benton,  who  had  always  opposed  Buchanan's  aspirations,  be 
cause  he  regarded  him  as  weak  and  timid,  powerfully  champi 
oned  him  in  that  year  even  against  his  own  son-in-law,  Fremont. 
Rufus  Choate,  Webster's  nearest  friend,  was  on  the  same  side ; 
so  were  John  Van  Buren  and  his  father,  notwithstanding  both 
held  Buchanan's  friends  accountable  for  the  nomination  of  Polk 
in  1844.  Webster  himself,  had  he  lived,  would,  I  think,  have 
voted  the  same  way ;  and  perhaps  Henry  Clay  would  have  pre 
ferred  the  man  who  so  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  put  an  end 
to  the  slavery  agitation.  They  both  died,  Clay  in  September 
and  Webster  in  October  of  1852,  and  so  were  spared  the  morti 
fication  of  Choate,  Benton,  and  the  Van  Burens,  when  James 
Buchanan  yielded  to  the  fire-eaters,  and  tried  to  force  slavery 
into  Kansas. 

[September  17,  1871.] 


XXXVII. 

CEMETERIES  are  of  modern  origin.  One  of  the  oldest  is 
Pere  la  Chaise,  near  Paris,  the  arrangements  of  which  have  been 
generally  followed  in  English  and  American  cities.  The  dead 
of  the  ancients  became  so  numerous  at  last  that  the  bodies 
were  burned,  and  the  ashes  preserved  in  urns,  which  it  appears 
from  recent  excavations  had  accumulated  in  incalculable  num 
bers.  It  is  believed  that  the  fine  burial  grounds  of  the  Turks, 
extending  over  large  tracts,  adorned  by  cedars  and  other  trees, 
suggested  the  prevailing  plans  of  the  Europeans.  Our  places 


184  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

of  interment  are  surrounded  by  beautiful  and  elevating  influ 
ences,  decorated  by  foliage  and  flowers,  monuments  and  statu 
ary,  and  always  located  in  the  midst  of  exquisite  natural  scen 
ery.  Greenwood,  near  New  York;  Mount  Auburn,  Boston; 
Laurel  Hill,  Philadelphia;  Buenaventura,  Savannah,  may  be 
called  the  patterns  from  which  many  have  been  copied,  so  that 
there  is  not  a  considerable  town,  North  or  South,  that  does  not 
boast  of  one  of  these  cities  of  the  dead.  Among  the  most  pict 
uresque  is  undoubtedly  that  founded  by  W.  W.  Corcoran  — 
"  Oak  Hill  Cemetery,"  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.  The  marble  pile 
awaiting  his  own  remains  is  a  work  of  consummate  majesty 
and  symmetry.  The  plan  is  entirely  different  from  that  adopt 
ed  in  other  cemeteries.  A  series  of  natural  ravines  have  been 
handsomely  terraced  and  planted  with  shrubbery.  No  railings 
are  allowed  around  the  different  lots,  so  that  the  whole  pre 
sents  the  appearance  of  a  handsome  private  park.  Many  of 
the  monuments  are  noted  specimens.  Prominent  among  the 
latest  is  that  erected  by  the  family  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  It  is 
of  silver-tinged  granite  from  the  quarries  near  Concord,  New 
Hampshire.  The  inscription  reads :  "  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  born 
December  19, 1814;  died  December  4, 1869." 

No  modern  character  possesses  more  interest  than  Stanton. 
The  time  has  not  come  when  his  biography  may  be  faithfully 
and  dispassionately  written.  Up  to  the  rebellion  he  lived  a 
life  of  singular  tranquillity.  Discarding  office  and  avoiding 
politics,  his  ambition  was  in  the  line  of  the  law,  in  which  he 
soon  became  a  giant.  A  close  student,  a  clear,  compact  logi 
cian,  a  bold  and  impetuous  advocate,  his  best  powers  were  given 
to  his  profession.  Sought  after  far  and  near,  and  employed  in 
most  of  the  great  cases,  his  reputation  and  large  influence,  in 
his  native  State  of  Ohio  and  in  his  adopted  State  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  assumed  national  proportions  when  he  removed  to  the 
city  of  Washington.  He  towered  in  the  Supreme  Court  a 
leader  of  leaders.  An  authority  of  wide  acceptation  he  was  a 


EDWIN    M.  STANTON.  185 

genius  of  his  school.  Forced  finally  into  public  position  at  the 
close  of  Buchanan's  Administration,  his  bearing  as  Attorney- 
General  was  so  fearless  and  conscientious  that  when  General 
Cameron  retired  from  the  War  Department,  popular  opinion 
pointed  him  out  as  the  fittest  man  for  that  responsible  post, 
and  when  President  Lincoln  selected  him,  the  whole  country 
cried  Amen. 

I  knew  him  well.  Long  before  his  name  was  cited  in  the 
catalogue  of  great  lawyers,  I  met  and  learned  to  love  him,  won 
dered  at  his  mind,  and  gathered  instruction  from  his  counsels. 
He  had  strong  convictions.  He  hated  slavery  from  the  start, 
although  co-operating  with  the  Democratic  party.  Once  he  was 
sent  to  Columbus  as  a  delegate  to  a  Young  Men's  State  Con 
vention,  and  when  the  chairman  endeavored  to  disregard  the 
sentiment  to  which  the  majority  were  pledged,  Stanton,  who  was 
in  the  second  or  third  tier,  made  several  efforts  to  obtain  a 
hearing.  At  last  he  caught  the  chairman's  eye,  and  command 
ed  his  attention  by  beginning  his  speech  as  follows  :  "I  address 
you  to-day  as  the  meanest  man  among  the  thousands  of  young 
men  of  Ohio  whom  you  have  attempted  to  betray."  When  he 
accepted  the  portfolio  of  War  Minister  it  was  in  the  spirit  of 
the  generals  of  Cromwell's  Puritan  army.  The  first  thing  he 
did  was  to  put  himself  out  of  sight.  In  the  long  catalogue  of 
calumnies  heaped  by  bad  men  upon  his  honored  name,  not 
even  a  suspicion  of  personal  ambition  is  found.  They  hated 
him  because  he  loved  his  country — because  that  love  was  sin 
cere,  vigilant,  exacting.  He  was  rough  in  his  manners  to  those 
he  had  reason  to  believe  corrupt,  but  he  was  sweet  as  summer 
to  the  poor,  the  humble,  and  the  brave.  By  his  own  example 
he  conquered.  Asking  nothing  for  himself,  he  refused  every 
thing  to  others  that  was  not  just.  After  several  generals  had 
failed,  I  heard  him  say,  more  than  once,  "  I  will  find  a  leader 
for  these  armies,  if  he  must  be  taken  from  the  ranks."  The  in 
tensity  with  which  he  was  identified  with  his  client's  cause  was 


1 86  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

in  accordance  with  his  intense  devotion  to  the  Republic.  I  have 
seen  him  more  than  once  order  back  the  laggard  to  camp  in 
tones  of  stern  rebuke,  and  immediately  afterward  take  the 
mother  of  a  private  soldier  by  the  hand  and  cheer  her  for  the 
loss  of  her  son.  Utterly  regardless  of  social  pleasure,  he  had 
no  hope,  no  object,  no  time  but  for  the  cause.  He  worked 
harder  than  any  of  his  subordinates,  and  stayed  longer  in  his 
Department.  It  was  astonishing  how  this  man,  who  had  never 
participated  in  party  warfare,  comprehended  the  political  situa 
tion.  Fertile  of  suggestion,  he  was  a  mine  of  information  to  an 
editor.  He  thought  quickly  and  wrote  strongly.  He  would 
give  a  key-note  for  a  campaign,  which,  sounded  in  the  columns 
of  a  newspaper,  would  thrill  a  continent.  He  was  no  respecter 
of  persons.  Frequently,  to  prove  his  iron  impartiality,  he  re 
proached  his  nearest  friends  when  he  feared  they  were  falter 
ing.  He  studiously  abstained  from  public  speaking.  His  re 
ports  were  brief,  but  clear  and  cogent ;  his  letters  few  and 
simple;  his  gazettes  announcing  a  victory  were  marked  by  all 
the  Covenanter's  fire.  I  reproduce  that  in  which  he  promul 
gated  the  decisive  victories  of  Grant  before  Richmond  : 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  D.C.,  ^ 
-Lieutenant-General  Grant:  "  APril  9>  1865-9:30  P.M.        J 

"Thanks  be  to  Almighty  God  for  the  great  victory  with  which  he  has 
this  day  crowned  you  and  the  gallant  army  under  your  command  !  The 
thanks  of  this  Department,  and  of  the  Government,  and  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  their  reverence  and  honor,  have  been  deserved,  and  will 
be  rendered  to  you  and  the  brave  and  gallant  officers  and  soldiers  of  your 
army  for  all  time.  EDWARD  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War." 

In  these  two  sentences  you  have  an  insight  into  the  character 
of  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  Every  word  seems  to  have  been  coined 
out  of  the  pure  gold  and  weighed  in  the  nicest  scales  of  grati 
tude.  They  are  short,  but  how  ponderous !  Written  for  the 
living  millions,  they  will  be  read  by  the  coming  millions.  As  we 
ponder  them,  and  recollect  that  in  five  little  days  Abraham  Lin- 


DR.  GEORGE   McCLELLAN.  187 

coin  slept  in  death,  and  that  a  little  more  than  five  years  later — 
after  that  terrible  struggle  with  Andrew  Johnson,  which  may  be 
said  to  have  literally  crushed  the  heart  of  the  great  statesman — 
Stanton  himself  was  summoned  to  his  last  account,  let  us  never 
cease  to  cherish  and  follow  his  matchless  example.  Had  he 
lived  to  take  his  seat  upon  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  the  words  of  Daniel  Webster,  applied  to  the 
illustrious  John  Jay,  would  have  been  equally  true  of  Edwin  M. 
Stanton  :  "  When  the  spotless  ermine  of  the  judicial  robe  fell 
upon  him  it  touched  nothing  less  spotless  than  itself." 

[September  24, 1871.] 


XXXVIII. 

GENERAL  MCCLELLAN'S  father,  the  famous  Philadelphia  sur 
geon,  Dr.  George  McClellan,  was  one  of  the  most  devoted  of 
Whigs,  and  one  of  Henry  Clay's  sincerest  friends.  His  lectures 
at  our  great  Philadelphia  Medical  College,  in  which  he  was  an 
eminent  professor,  were  models  of  terse  statement  and  lucid 
analysis.  His  influence  in  society  was  large  and  commanding. 
Shortly  after  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  1844, 1  was  the  guest  of 
my  friend,  Hon.  Morton  McMichael,  the  present  editor  of  the 
Philadelphia  North  American,  who  then  resided  in  Filbert  Street, 
near  Broad,  in  that  city.  Like  Dr.  McClellan,  he  had  fervently 
supported  the  Kentucky  statesman.  At  that  time  I  was  the 
editor  of  the  Democratic  organ  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  and 
bore  a  very  near  relation  to  James  Buchanan.  Politics  had 
never  interfered  with  my  intimacy  with  Mr.  McMichael,  which, 
beginning  when  we  were  both  very  young,  has  continued  with 
out  pause  to  this  hour.  One  day  after  dinner  there  was  a 
quick,  sharp  ring  at  the  door-bell,  when  my  host  said  with  a 
laugh,  "  Look  out !  there  is  Dr.  McClellan  ;"  and  with  that  the 


l88  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

distinguished  surgeon  came  bustling  in.  The  defeat  of  Mr. 
Clay  was  still  keenly  felt  by  the  Whigs,  though  my  generous 
and  genial  friend,  McMichael,  did  not  allow  his  hospitality  to 
be  less  because  I  had  opposed  him.  But  Dr.  McClellan  could 
not  restrain  his  feelings.  He  held  Buchanan  responsible  for 
the  vote  of  Pennsylvania,  and,  though  most  courteous  to  me, 
did  not  spare  the  Wheatland  leader.  We  soon  got  over  our 
little  difference,  however,  and  closed  the  controversy  in  a  glass 
of  wine.  The  Doctor  possessed  rare  traits.  Abounding  in  an 
ecdote  and  information,  he  was  an  unrivaled  wit  and  conversa 
tionalist.  His  son,  Dr,  J.  H.  B.  McClellan,  and  his  grandson, 
young  Dr.  George,  both  in  fine  practice  in  Philadelphia,  have  in 
herited  his  high  professional  skill  and  in  a  considerable  degree 
his  lively  and  vivacious  nature. 

There  is  a  well-known  physician  in  Washington,  Dr.  J.  C. 
Hall,  who  relates  many  incidents  of  the  public  men  he  has  at 
tended  in  his  long  and  brilliant  experience.  At  the  head  of  his 
profession,  he  has  attained  old  age  almost  without  an  enemy. 
I  know  no  man  more  universally  beloved.  A  happy  tempera 
ment,  fine  manners,  and  a  thorough  scholar,  his  sketches  of  the 
leading  characters  of  other  days  would  make  a  charming  vol 
ume  if  he  would  write  them  out.  Fond  of  polite  literature  and 
of  cultivated  people,  he  is  almost  out  of  practice,  and  may  be 
said  to  live  among  his  friends  and  his  books.  He,  too,  was  an 
"Old-line  Whig,"  and  shared  the  feelings,  if  not  the  prejudices, 
of  Dr.  McClellan,  whom  he  knew  and  admired,  especially  as  he 
was  a  graduate  of  Jefferson  College,  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Hall 
has  known  the  leaders  of  both,  in  fact,  of  all  the  great  parties, 
and  was  frequently  consulted  by  them.  He  attended  General 
Jackson  on  several  occasions,  though  not  his  family  physician. 
It  is  one  of  the  Doctor's  peculiarities  that  he  does  not  trouble 
himself  with  money  matters,  and  is  careless  about  collecting  his 
fees.  Once,  however,  during  a  temporary  absence,  his  clerk 
made  out  some  bills,  and  among  others  sent  one  to  the  Presi- 


THE   PRESIDENT   AND   THE   DOCTOR.  189 

dent.  On  his  return  the  Doctor  found  a  note  from  General 
Jackson  inclosing  a  check  for  the  amount,  deducting  an  old 
charge  which  had  been  called  for  and  settled,  and  for  which  he 
held  a  receipt.  The  fact  that  the  bill  had  been  sent  was  not 
less  a  mortification  to  Dr.  Hall  than  the  error  in  the  account  it 
self.  But  on  looking  at  the  President's  check  he  found  that 
the  General  had  forgotten  to  sign  it !  He  therefore  returned  it, 
with  the  expression  of  his  regret  that  the  bill  had  been  sent, 
and  pointed  out  the  General's  omission.  The  check  was  duly 
signed  and  sent  back  inclosed  in  a  note  with  this  remark : 

"DEAR  DOCTOR, — The  best  of  men  is  liable  to  mistakes. 

"ANDREW  JACKSON." 

Dr.  Hall  testifies  to  the  old  hero's  kindness  to  all  his  people, 
especially  to  his  servants.  Once  when  the  small-pox  broke  out 
among  them,  and  nearly  every  body  else  fled,  the  President  re 
mained  in  the  White  House,  and  waited  on  black  and  white  with 
unremitting  attention. 

Few  physicians  enter  public  life,  though  many  of  them  are 
active  politicians.  They  seem  to  prefer  the  field  of  science  to 
the  field  of  party.  Yet  there  is  no  class  capable  of  exercising 
more  power.  They  are  the  depositories  of  many  a  sacred  trust ; 
and  if  they  dared  to  relate  what  they  know  of  the  great  ones 
they  have  attended  in  sickness  and  in  their  last  hours,  they 
would  shed  a  wonderful  light  upon  the  characters  of  men  and 
the  mysteries  of  governments. 

[October  i,  1871.] 


XXXIX. 

I  WAS  introduced  to  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  grandson 
of  the  illustrious  patriot  of  that  name,  at  Barnum's  Hotel,  Bal 
timore,  in  the  spring  of  1855,  and  after  a  friendly  conversation 


igo  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

upon  public  affairs  he  cordially  invited  me  to  visit  his  estate  at 
Doughoregan  Manor,  in  Carroll  County,  Maryland.  There  was 
something  so  sincere  in  his  manner  that  I  yielded  to  his  wish, 
and  one  afternoon  in  July  of  the  same  year  I  took  the  cars  for 
Ellicott's  Station,  in  company  with  a  young  friend.  When  we 
reached  it,  on  a  bright  moonlight  night,  we  found  a  carriage 
waiting  to  convey  us  to  the  farm  of  the  Hon.  Edward  Ham 
mond,  then  a  Representative  in  Congress,  and  the  neighbor 
and  confidential  friend  of  Mr.  Carroll.  Mr.  Hammond  had 
been  an  invalid,  and  was  confined  to  his  room,  but  came  forth 
and  greeted  us  with  an  old-fashioned  Southern  welcome.  A 
number  of  the  young  men  of  the  vicinity  came  in  on  horseback 
to  join  our  merry  party,  and  it  was  very  late  when  we  retired. 
The  next  morning  we  passed  over  to  see  our  host  at  Doughore 
gan  Manor.  He  received  us  like  a  knight  of  the  olden  time. 
We  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  estate,  into  which  all 
the  modern  improvements  in  agriculture  had  been  introduced. 
He  showed  me  a  thousand  acres  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of 
corn,  then  in  full  leaf  and  tassel,  promising  a  bounteous  crop ; 
he  carried  us  through  his  slave-quarters,  and  when  I  remarked 
that  this  system  could  not  last,  he  turned  to  me  with  an  expres 
sion  I  shall  ever  remember,  and  said,  "  So  far  as  I  can  help  it, 
it  shall  not."  He  was  a  Catholic,  like  his  great  ancestor,  Charles 
Carroll  of  Carrollton,  who  was  born  at  Annapolis,  September 
20,  1737,  and  who  died  November  14,  1832,  in  his  ninety-sixth 
year.  He  pointed  out  the  exquisite  marble  effigies  of  his  de 
ceased  relatives  in  the  beautiful  chapel,  without  seeming  to 
think  that  he  would  soon  be  one  of  the  occupants  of  that  beau 
tiful  chamber  of  the  dead.  Of  gentle,  polished  manners,  hand 
some  presence,  large  acquirements,  and  generous,  even  profuse 
hospitality,  he  was  a  type  of  the  patriotic  school  of  which  his 
grandfather  was  one  of  the  finest  ideals.  As  a  citizen  of  intrin 
sic  and  historic  merit,  an  authentic  sketch  of  his  career  may  not 
be  out  of  place : 


CARROLL   OF   CARROLLTON.  191 

Charles  Carroll,  grandson  of  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton, 
and  son  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Homewood,  and  Harriet  Chew, 
a  daughter  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  Chew,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  born  in  Baltimore  on  July  25,  1801.  He  had  one  brother 
older  than  himself,  who  died  in  his  infancy,  and  he  remained 
an  only  son  with  four  sisters. 

The  preparatory  studies  of  Mr.  Carroll  were  made  at  home 
under  a  tutor,  from  which  he  was  sent  to  St.  Mary's  College, 
Baltimore,  and  afterward  to  Mount  St.  Mary's,  Emmettsburg, 
in  Maryland.  In  1818,  in  company  with  his  cousin,  Charles 
Harper,  a  son  of  the  late  General  Harper,  he  went  to  Europe 
under  the  charge  of  a  tutor,  and  was  placed  at  the  College  of 
St.  Stanislaus,  in  Paris.  He  remained  there  until  1821,  when 
he  returned  and  entered  Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
A  few  months  before  the  graduation  of  his  class,  in  1823,  owing 
to  some  difficulty  with  the  professors,  a  large  portion  of  that 
class  was  dismissed,  and  their  degrees  were  not  given  to  them 
for  many  years  afterward. 

Mr.  Carroll,  returning  home,  entered  the  law -office  of  the 
late  General  Harper,  and  in  1825  he  married  Mary  Diggs  Lee, 
granddaughter  of  the  late  Thomas  Simon  Lee,  Governor  of 
Maryland.  At  the  death  of  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  Mr. 
Carroll  came  into  possession  of  the  estate  called  Doughoregan 
Manor,  which  he  held  undivided  until  his  death.  A  large  num 
ber  of  slaves  were  bequeathed  to  him  by  his  grandfather's  will, 
and  he  set  himself  to  work  to  renovate  and  improve  the  lands, 
which  were  considerably  run  down  by  being  leased  for  long 
terms  of  years.  * 

He  greatly  improved  the  mansion-house  and  grounds,  and 
succeeded  in  a  very  short  time  in  bringing  nearly  the  whole  es 
tate,  consisting  of  two  thousand  acres,  under  prosperous  culti 
vation. 

For  many  years  he  was  a  Whig  in  political  sentiment,  and 
although  always  posted  and  taking  a  great  interest  in  public 


IQ2  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

matters,  he  never  held  any  position  of  political  preferment,  but 
devoted  his  life  to  the  development  of  his  property  for  the  ben 
efit  of  his  family.  His  slaves  were  always  treated  with  that 
kindness  and  consideration  which  he  felt  was  their  due,  and, 
having  always  professed  the  Catholic  faith,  their  religious  edu 
cation  was  guarded  with  the  same  care  as  was  that  of  his  own 
family. 

In  1860  an  affection  of  the  heart,  from  which  he  had  long 
been  disturbed,  developed  more  fully,  and  in  December,  1862, 
he  died,  devising  his  estate  of  Doughoregan  Manor,  and  all  the 
rest  of  his  property,  equally  among  his  seven  representatives. 
He  left  as  heirs  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  the  infant 
children  of  a  son  who  died  a  few  months  previous  to  himself. 
His  views  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  are  perhaps  best  set  forth 
in  his  will,  which  is  thus  transcribed: 

"  I  have  always  regarded  slavery  as  a  great  evil,  producing  in 
jury  and  loss  in  grain-growing  States,  but  an  evil  for  which  we 
are  not  responsible  who  now  hold  slaves,  considering  that  God 
in  his  wisdom  placed  them  here  and  permitted  them  to  be  in 
troduced.  My  experience  and  full  convictions  are  that  as  long 
as  we  have  that  class  of  labor  among  us,  they  are  as  a  mass 
better  cared  for  and  happier  than  if  they  were  free  and  provid 
ing  for  themselves.  I  therefore  give  all  my  slaves  to  all  my 
children,  with  these  positive  injunctions,  that  none  of  them  shall 
ever  be  sold  except  among  themselves,  and  except  for  those 
crimes  for  which  they  would  be  punishable  by  the  laws  of  the 
State,  or  for  gross  insubordination.  I  also  direct  that  they  shall 
continue  to  have  the  advantages  of  the  religious  education  they 
now  receive,  and  that  their  morals  and  habits  be  watched  over 
like  those  of  children.  It  may  hereafter  be  found  advisable  to 
remove  them  to  the  South  to  cultivate  cotton,  where  the  climate 
is  more  congenial  to  their  health,  while  it  removes  them  from 
the  pernicious  influence  of  the  low  whites,  who  now  corrupt 
them.  In  this  way  they  can  be  made  profitable,  and  eventually 


ANDREW    H.  REEDER.       V  193 

a  fund  provided  to  establish  them  at  some  future  day  in  Africa 
or  in  the  West  Indies.  It  is  my  wish  that  my  children  shall  not 
transmit  them  to  any  of  my  grandchildren." 

It  was  a  sad  yet  happy  day  and  a  half  I  spent  among  these 
interesting  men.  Amid  their  abounding  hospitality  there  was 
still  a  presentiment  upon  me,  and  so  when  I  returned  to  Wash 
ington,  and  found  Sydney  Webster,  private  secretary  of  Presi 
dent  Pierce,  waiting  for  me  at  the  station,  I  knew  something 
had  happened.  He  had  come  to  announce  that  Andrew  H. 
Reeder  had  been  that  day  removed  as  Governor  of  Kansas.  It 
was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi, 
was  too  powerful  for  either  Hon.  Asa  Packer  or  myself,  and  our 
gallant  friend  was  ejected  from  his  place  only  because  he  had  re 
fused  to  consent  to  the  conspiracy  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State. 

We  had  jointly  recommended  the  appointment  of  Andrew  H. 
Reeder  to  this  post,  really  in  response  to  President  Pierce's 
suggestion,  who  was  anxious  to  give  it  to  a  Pennsylvanian. 
When  Reeder  accepted  he  was  in  high  favor  with  the  Democ 
racy  of  the  old  Tenth  Legion  of  Pennsylvania.  An  extreme 
sympathizer  with  the  South  at  all  times,  his  experience  in  Kan 
sas  completely  converted  him.  Honest,  independent  in  his 
circumstances,  a  very  able  lawyer,  and  an  entrancing  speaker, 
he  was  just  the  character  for  a  new  country,  just  the  man  to 
save  the  Administration  from  fatal  complications.  When  the 
President  nominated  him,  Hon.  Richard  Brodhead,  then  one  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Senators,  and  always  the  rival  of  Reeder,  or 
Reeder  of  him,  did  not  conceal  his  disappointment,  but  Judge 
Packer,  who  lived  in  the  same  Congressional  district,  was  too 
strong  for  Brodhead  to  fight,  and  Reeder  was  confirmed.  Then 
our  friend  went  forth  to  Kansas,  free,  fair,  and  unprejudiced. 
He  had  not  been  there  long  before  he  wrote  back  to  us,  de 
nouncing  the  open  frauds  of  the  slaveholders.  I  well  remember 
the  effect  produced  upon  our  minds.  But  Jefferson  Davis's 
friends  were  potent  with  the  Executive ;  their  falsehoods  were 

I 


194  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

credited  ;  Reeder's  statements  discredited,  and  a  brave,  honest 
man  sacrificed.  The  news  of  his  dismissal,  after  my  agreeable 
visit  to  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  was  the  gloomy  sequel 
of  a  happy  day.  What  rendered  it  more  unpleasant  was  the 
fact  that  I  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Washington 
Union,  the  Democratic  Administration  organ.  Many  will  blame 
President  Pierce  for  consenting  to  the  proscription  of  Governor 
Reeder ;  but  I  can  never  forget  that  when  I  told  him  I  could 
not  remain  in  the  Union,  and  write  in  support  of  the  policy 
which  had  displaced  Governor  Reeder,  or  even  consent  to  let 
others  do  so,  he  refused  to  accept  my  resignation,  and  I  con 
tinued  under  the  proffered  generous  condition  that  the  paper 
should  remain  silent  on  the  subject.  And  so  it  did,  until  I  for 
mally  retired,  and  returned  to  Pennsylvania  to  make  James 
Buchanan  President. 

Of  the  parties  to  this  event  I  have  named,  incidentally  and 
otherwise,  three  only  survive ;  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton, 
Andrew  H.  Reeder,  Richard  Brodhead,  and  Franklin  Pierce 
have  been  gathered  to  their  fathers. 

[October  8, 1871.] 


XL. 

THERE  is  always  something  grotesque  in  the  manners  and 
habits  of  the  old  Southern  slaveholders.  Every  body  has  noticed 
how  the  negro  dialect  pervades  the  conversation  of  the  so-called 
superior  race.  A  beautiful  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Virginia, 
or  Louisiana  woman  is  made  more  interesting  by  the  infusion 
of  the  plantation  patois  into  her  liquid  language.  Long  and 
constant  communication  between  the  master  and  the  slave  cre 
ated  and  crystallized  affinities  and  eccentricities  that  will  re 
quire  generations  to  modify.  As  some  friends  and  myself  were 


IN   THE   LEGISLATURE.  195 

passing  through  one  of  the  Southern  States,  a  little  more  than 
two  years  ago,  an  odd  incident  illustrative  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  old-time  school  took  place  in  one  of  the  smoking-cars. 
A  venerable  gentleman,  with  white  hair  and  gold-headed  cane, 
got  in  at  one  of  the  stations,  took  his  seat,  and  drew  from  his 
large  coat-pocket  a  long  pipe,  which  he  proceeded  to  fill  and 
light.  He  was  soon  followed  by  another  of  the  same  school,  a 
little  older,  who  took  his  seat  next  to  him  and  lit  a  cigar.  They 
were  evidently  near  neighbors,  and  the  dialogue  ran  about  as 
follows  :  "  How  are  you  all  at  home,  sah  ?"  "  Weil,  sah  !"  "  Is 
Miz  Smith  well  ?"  «  Very  well,  sah  !"  "  Is  Miz  Jones  well  ?" 
"  Yes,  sah,"  question  and  answer  being  rapidly  punctuated  with 
alternate  puffs.  Then  came  the  more  serious  topic.  "Mr. 
Smith,"  said  the  one  to  the  other,  "  I  notice  that  Tom  has  gone 
back  on  you,  sah.  I  never  had  any  opinion  of  Tom,  and  I  am 
not  surprised  that  he  did  go  back  on  you,  sah  !"  "  Yes,  sah," 
was  the  reply,  "  he  has  gone  back  on  me.  Is  it  not  an  aston 
ishing  thing,  sah,  that  this  boy  of  mine  should  now  be  repre 
senting  me  in  the  Legislature,  sah,  when  I  am  prevented 
from  voting  by  this  d — d  Radical  Congress  and  Government, 
sah  ?  He  was  a  first-rate  servant ;  wrote  a  good  hand,  sah  ; 
frequently  kept  my  books,  sah,  and  yet  he  sits  in  the  Legisla 
ture,  sah,  and  I  can  not  even  vote,  sah."  On  inquiry  I  learned 
that  Tom  was  a  former  slave  of  our  worthy  Polonius,  but,  after 
emancipation  and  reconstruction,  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  and  was  then  at  Raleigh  doing  the  work  that  the 
masters  had  done  for  a  century.  The  simple-hearted  old  man 
did  not  seem  to  know  that  in  every  complaint  against  Tom  he 
was  paying  the  highest  tribute  to  his  qualifications. 

During  the  same  trip  one  of  the  same  class  came  into  our 
special  car  and  regaled  us  with  a  long  catalogue  of  his  suffer 
ings  and  losses.  Like  most  Southern  men  and  women,  he  was 
full  of  talk  and  full  of  politics.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  these 
people  that  they  hardly  ever  hold  a  conversation  which  is  not 


IQ6  ANECDOTES  OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

interlarded  with  their  own  affairs.  Addicted  to  it  before  the 
war,  they  enlarge  upon  it  now.  I  had  barely  been  presented  to 
my  new  friend  before  he  opened  his  budget.  We  were  passing 
over  some  of  the  historic  fields  of  the  rebellion,  and  it  was 
amusing  to  note,  in  the  midst  of  his  lamentations,  how  he 
stopped  to  say,  "Well,  sah,  here's  the  spot  whar  we  gave  the 
Yankees  h — ,  sah."  "  Now  we  are  coming  to  the  place  where 
you  uns  rather  got  the  advantage  of  us,  sah,  and  here  is  whar 
we  had  to  fly  to  when  Wilmington  fell  j"  and  then  he  would 
resume  his  wail.  I  listened  a  good  hour  without  interruption. 
The  oblivious  simplicity  of  the  man  rather  pleased  me,  and 

when  there  was  a  pause  in  the  torrent,  I  said,  "Pray,  Mr. ,  in 

all  your  accusations  of  the  National  Government,  have  you  ever 
once  reflected  upon  the  part  you  played  against  it  ?  Do  you 
ever  think  that  all  these  sufferings  have  been  brought  upon  you 
by  yourselves  ?"  I  think  if  I  had  struck  him  in  the  face  he 
would  not  have  been  more  surprised.  This  honest,  kind-hearted 
man  was  so  completely  absorbed  in  his  grievances  that  he  had 
never  taken  account  of  his  own  offenses.  And  so  it  is  with 
the  entire  class.  Naturally  generous,  confiding,  and  brave,  they 
are  so  much  absorbed  in  themselves,  and  have  lived  so  long  in 
their  exclusive  world,  that  they  have  finally  come  to  believe  in 
nothing  but  their  own  wrongs,  and  never  indulge  the  habit  of 
self-examination.  Herein  we  have  the  source  of  their  steady 
resistance  to  mental  and  material  progress.  They  do  not  feel 
the  world  move.  They  do  not  see  the  vast  improvements  all 
around  them.  They  will  retain  thousands  of  acres  without  go 
ing  out  of  their  way  for  purchasers,  and  even  when  they  find 
them,  they  are  very  apt  to  forfeit  a  bargain  on  account  of  poli 
tics.  To  them  every  advance  in  science  and  in  government  is 
a  Radical  innovation.  They  can't  be  called  malignant,  although 
their  exclusiveness  operates  precisely  as  if  they  were.  They  are 
generous  as  long  as  their  vanity  is  flattered.  Very  brave  in 
personal  combat,  they  fought  gallantly  on  the  rebel  side,  but, 


SOUTHERN    DIALECT.  197 

lacking  true  courage  and  self-respect,  they  do  not  admit  that 
they  committed  the  slightest  wrong  against  their  Government, 
even  while  they  expect  that  Government  to  extend  its  blessings 
over  them.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  children  of  these 
men  and  women  will  follow  their  example.  Happily  for  them 
selves,  and  happily  for  the  country,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  and  the  welfare  of  all  its  citizens  do  not  depend 
upon  the  fiat  of  the  old  slaveholders. 

But  I  was  talking  of  the  peculiar  dialect  of  these  people  rather 
than  their  opinions.  Henry  Clay's  speaking  was  strongly 
marked  by  it.  James  M.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  seemed  to  delight 
in  the  African  accent.  But  there  was  no  better  specimen  than 
the  late  Thomas  H.  Bayley,  for  many  years  the  Representative 
in  Congress  of  the  Accomac  district.  He  was  a  man  of  con 
siderable  force  and  education,  and  I  can  easily  recall  his  tall 
form,  his  expressive  face  and  ringing  voice,  as,  spectacles  on 
nose,  he  would  address  "  Mr.  Speakah,"  and  refer  to  the  hon 
orable  member  who  had  just  had  the  "flo'."  Keitt,  of  South 
Carolina,  had  the  same  accent  and  pronunciation.  So,  too, 
Linn  Boyd,  of  Kentucky,  and  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia.  All 
these  men,  and  most  of  the  former  leaders  of  opinion  in  the 
South,  are  in  their  graves,  but  Toombs,  Stephens,  Henry  A. 
Wise,  Bocock,  John  Forsyth,  and  Jeff  Davis,  still  live,  as  warn 
ings,  if  not  as  examples. 

[October  15, 1871.] 


XLI. 

JOHN  SERGEANT  is  one  of  the  many  Philadelphians  whose 
memory  will  always  be  honored.  His  reputation,  ripened  by 
culture,  integrity,  and  winning  manners,  became  national  before 
he  was  forty,  and  when  he  died,  in  his  seventy-third  year,  he 


198  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

had  filled  out  a  life  of  rare  usefulness  and  success.  He  was 
born  in  1779,  less  than  a  year  before  Horace  Binney,  who  is 
still  living,  and  who  was  his  contemporary  for  fifty  years  at  the 
bar  and  in  public  life.  The  tribute  of  the  latter,  a  few  days  aft 
er  the  death  of  ?  is  friend,  at  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the 
legal  profession  >f  Philadelphia,  in  November,  1852,  is  a  classic 
of  obituaries.  At  a  period  when  so  many  are  rushing  into  the 
law  as  a  profession,  Horace  Binney  on  John  Sergeant  may  not 
be  unprofitably  read.  I  quote  : 

"Mr.  Sergeant  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  and  lived  there  for 
seventy-three  years,  during  fifty-three  years  of  which  he  was  an 
advocate  and  counselor — one  of  the  ministers  of  justice.  He 
has  been  known  and  honored  for  half  a  century.  In  learning, 
integrity,  and  in  liberal  fairness,  in  habitual  courtesy,  he  has 
maintained  the  reputation  of  the  bar  of  Philadelphia  and  sup 
ported  the  inherent  dignity  of  the  profession.  He  continued 
every  year  during  his  whole  life  increasing  his  titles  to  respect 
and  honor  every  day,  until  he  achieved  the  highest  degrees  of 
both — as  wise  men  estimate  degrees  of  honor  and  respect — by 
merit,  not  by  accident  or  fortune,  or  the  breath  of  popular  ap 
plause.  He  has  rounded  the  whole  circle  of  his  life  fully,  com 
pletely,  perfectly." 

As  marking  the  difference  between  the  lawyers  of  the  past 
and  the  present,  I  heard  an  anecdote  of  Mr.  Sergeant  the  other 
day,  which  shows  how  the  giants  estimated  their  professional 
services  and  by  what  sensitive  and  scrupulous  rules  they  squared 
their  actions.  A  distinguished  merchant,  still  living,  called 
upon  Mr.  Sergeant  for  his  opinion  in  an  important  case, 
which  was  duly  prepared  and  sent  by  one  of  the  students  of  the 
great  lawyer.  The  merchant  opened  the  letter,  and  after 
glancing  over  it  asked  the  student  for  the  charge.  He  said  he 
did  not  know  the  contents  of  the  paper  and  could  not  answer. 
The  merchant  then  signed  a  blank  check,  and  sent  it  back  to 
Mr.  Sergeant  by  the  same  hand,  with  a  message  that  he  should 


JOHN    SERGEANT.  1 99 

fill  it  up  with  the  amount  of  his  fee.  This  very  student,  now 
one  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Philadelphia  bar,  graphically 
describes  the  effect  of  the  communication.  He  says  he  never 
saw  a  little  man  (Mr.  Sergeant  was  of  slight  stature)  so  sudden 
ly  tower  into  a  giant.  "Mr. entirely  misunderstands  me, 

sir !  Go  back  to  him,  sir,  and  say  for  me  that  I  am  the  last 
person  living  to  fill  up  another  man's  check.  If  he  will  care 
fully  examine  the  paper  I  sent,  he  will  find  my  fee  written  in 
one  of  the  corners."  With  this  somewhat  considerable  flea 
in  his  ear  the  young  man  retraced  his  steps  to  the  merchant, 
when  the  opinion  was  carefully  inspected,  and  written  in  very 
small  letters,  in  the  angle  of  one  of  the  pages,  were  the  figures 
"$30." 

I  fear  the  fee  of  our  reigning  legal  magnates  for  similar  serv 
ices  would  be  at  least  ten  times  thirty  dollars. 

In  illustration  of  Sergeant's  mode  of  life,  I  quote  again  from 
the  venerable  Binney's  eulogy  :  "  His  honor  and  integrity  in  all 
that  regarded  his  profession  or  management  of  his  cause  were 
not  only  above  impeachment  or  imputation,  but  beyond  the 
thought  of  it.  So  distinct  and  universal  was  this  impression, 
that  if  any  man  had  directed  a  battery  of  that  sort  against  him, 
the  recoil  would  have  prostrated  him  to  the  earth.  His  heart, 
his  mind,  his  principles,  his  conscience,  his  bond  to  man,  his 
bond  to  Heaven,  which  he  had  given  early,  and  which  to  the 
last  he  never  intentionally  violated,  would  have  made  it,  hu 
manly  speaking,  impossible  for  him  to  swerve  from  his  integrity. 
It  is  the  best  example  for  the  rising  generations  to  have  before 
them.  He  was  perfectly  fair.  There  was  no  evasion,  no  strat 
agem,  no  surprising,  no  invocation  of  prejudice,  no  appeal  to  un 
worthy  passions — he  was  far  above  all  these.  Mr.  Sergeant 
had  too  much  strength  indeed  to  make  use  of  such  arts,  to  say 
nothing  of  his  virtue.  He  was  charitable  in  doing  work  at  the 
bar  without  pecuniary  compensation — though  not  without  re 
ward.  He  did  that  which,  in  his  judgment,  was  best,  but  he 


200  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

did  not  do  it  ostentatiously.  He  did  not  do  it  by  proclamation, 
informing  the  court  in  the  presence  of  the  bystanders  that  he 
did  not  receive  a  fee,  but  that  it  would  make  no  difference  to 
him.  He  never  let  his  left  hand  know  what  his  right  hand  did 
— still  less  did  he  ever  impose  upon  the  left  hand  of  others  by 
informing  it  of  what  his  right  hand  had  not  done." 

We  must  not  forget,  in  perusing  such  a  character  in  the  light 
of  such  an  eulogy,  that  Horace  Binney  was  himself,  during  his 
active  career,  a  fair  illustration  of  his  own  sentiments.  Mr. 
Binney  sat  in  Congress  while  Andrew  Jackson  was  President, 
and  was,  perhaps,  the  ablest  advocate  of  the  Bank  of  the  Unit 
ed  States,  and  therefore  one  of  the  stanchest  opponents  of 
General  Jackson's  Administration ;  but  he  understood  how  to 
antagonize  measures  without  assailing  men — how  to  arraign  a 
public  policy  without  traducing  private  character — a  rare  qual 
ity,  which  might  be  profitably  copied  by  our  modern  teachers. 
One  day  he  was  surprised  by  a  note  from  the  President  solicit 
ing  an  interview,  and  the  more  so  because  he  had  just  finished 
an  exhaustive  protest  against  the  President's  course  in  regard 
to  the  United  States  Bank.  General  Jackson  met  him  with  all 
his  grace,  dignity,  and  cordiality,  and  said :  "  I  have  taken  the 
liberty  of  sending  for  you,  Mr.  Binney,  to  say  that  I  have  read 
your  speech,  which  is  the  most  powerful  yet  made  on  your  side 
of  the  House.  I  can  not,  of  course,  thank  you  for  the  strength 
of  your  argument,  but  I  am  happy  to  know  you  as  an  adversary 
who  does  not  conceive  it  necessary  to  employ  invective  against 
a  public  officer  who  believes  he  has  discharged  his  duty  faith 
fully."  I  have  this  interesting  fact  from  good  authority. 

John  Sergeant  and  Horace  Binney  moved  together  in  poli 
tics  and  in  their  profession.  Let  me  employ  Mr.  Binney's  lan 
guage  in  1852  once  more;  "I  honored  and  respected  him  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  I  shall  honor  and  respect  his  memory  to  the 
end  of  my  own.  No  trivial  incongruities  of  feeling  or  opinion, 
no  misrepresentations,  however  arisen;  no  petty  gust;  no  cloud 


HORACE    BINNEY.  2OI 

of  a  hand's  breadth,  which  may  and  will  chill  or  overcast  the 
summer  sky  of  the  truest  friends ;  in  a  life  of  fifty-five  years  not 
a  single  accident  disturbed  the  foundations  of  my  regard  for 
him,  or  even  reached  the  depths  in  which  they  were  laid.  These 
foundations  were  laid  upon  his  principles  as  I  well  knew  them 
fifty  years  ago.  They  were  laid  deep  upon  that  sure  basis,  and 
they  were  beyond  the  reach  of  change  or  chance,  as  his  princi 
ples  were." 

Binney  was  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  sixty-one  years 
ago,  in  1806-7  [do  not  forget  he  is  still  living  at  his  old  home 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia],  and  declined  a  re-election.  He 
was  a  Representative  in  Congress  from  Philadelphia  from  1833 
to  1835,  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means,  and  again  declined  a  re-election.  Sergeant  was  in  Con 
gress  from  1815  to  1823,  from  1827  to  1829,  and  from  1837  to 
1842.  He  was  especially  famous  for  his  part  in  the  great  Mis 
souri  Compromise  of  1820.  He  was  selected  by  President  John 
Quincy  Adams  to  represent  the  United  States  on  the  Panama 
Commission.  He  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  Vice-President 
in  1832,  on  the  same  ticket  with  Henry  Clay.  He  was  tender 
ed  the  mission  to  England  by  General  Harrison,  which  he  de 
clined. 

For  half  a  century  these  two  interesting  men  were  associates 
at  the  bar,  harmonizing  in  politics,  and  generally  supporting 
the  same  measures  and  the  same  candidates.  Their  joint  ex 
perience,  their  blended  patriotism,  their  high  sense  of  honor, 
their  fidelity  to  convictions  and  to  the  interests  of  their  city, 
state,  and  country,  can  not  be  too  frequently  reproduced.  We 
tread  the  path  of  duty  more  bravely  in  the  lustre  shed  from  ex 
amples  so  unselfish  and  pure. 

[October  22, 1871.] 

I  2 


202  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


XLII. 

A  GOOD  story  is  told  of  the  celebrated  George  Kremer,  who 
figured  conspicuously  during  the  "bargain  and  sale"  excite 
ment  forty-five  years  ago,  about  the  time  Henry  Clay  was  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  State  by  President  John  Quincy  Adams. 
Mr.  Kremer  represented  the  old  Union  and  Northumberland 
Congressional  district  in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  a  fine  type  of 
the  primitive  manners  and  rugged  Democracy  of  that  period. 
He  was  firmly  convinced  that  Mr.  Clay  threw  his  influence 
against  General  Jackson,  by  which  the  electoral  vote  of  Ken 
tucky  was  given  to  Mr.  Adams,  for  a  consideration  ;  and  when 
the  first  place  in  the  Cabinet  was  tendered  to  and  accepted  by 
the  Kentucky  statesman,  honest  George  "cried  aloud  and 
spared  not."  The  sensation  he  created  disturbed  the  politics 
of  the  whole  country,  and  led  to  many  differences  between  pub 
lic  men.  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  dilated  upon  the  accu 
sation  against  Clay  to  such  an  extent  that  the  new  Secretary  of 
State  was  compelled  to  challenge  him  to  mortal  combat.  But 
I  do  not  propose  a  chapter  on  the  "  bargain  and  sale."  That 
episode  is  happily  ignored  by  the  retiring  generation,  and  is  no 
longer  recalled  as  a  reproach  on  the  memory  of  Henry  Clay.  I 
write  simply  to  revive  an  incident  between  Randolph  and  Kre 
mer  characteristic  of  both.  After  one  of  the  peculiar  speeches 
of  the  eccentric  Virginian,  which  he  interlarded  with  copious 
quotations  in  Latin  and  Greek,  Kremer  rose,  and,  in  a  strain 
of  well-acted  indignation,  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  Pennsylva 
nia  German  upon  the  head  of  the  amazed  and  startled  Ran 
dolph.  His  violent  gesticulations,  his  loud  and  boisterous 
tones,  his  defiant  manner,  were  not  more  annoying  to  the  impe 
rious  Southerner  than  the  fact  that  he  could  not  understand  a 
word  that  was  spoken.  And  when  honest  George  took  his  seat, 
covered  with  perspiration,  Randolph  rose  and  begged  the  honor- 


PENNSYLVANIA   DUTCH.  203 

able  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  to  enlighten  the  House  and 
the  country  by  translating  what  he  had  just  uttered.  Kremer 
retorted  as  follows:  "I  have  only  to  say  in  reply  to  my  friend 
from  Virginia  that  when  he  translates  the  dead  languages, 
which  he  is  constantly  using  for  the  benefit  of  us  country  mem 
bers,  into  something  like  English,  I  will  be  equally  liberal  in 
translating  my  living  Pennsylvania  Dutch  into  something  that 
the  House  can  understand."  The  laugh  was  completely  against 
Randolph. 

Apart  from  the  beauty  of  well-written  and  well-spoken  Ger 
man,  and  the  benefits  conferred  upon  the  human  race  by  Ger 
man  philosophers  and  scholars,  there  is  something  irrepressibly 
odd  in  the/rtto  of  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  so  called.    Under  the 
influence  of  my  learned  friend,  Charles  Godfrey  Leland,  this 
mingled  dialect  has  recently  acquired  a  world-wide  celebrity. 
His  "Hans  Breitmann,"  even   including  the  "dog  Latin"  he 
weaves  into  it,  is  becoming  one  of  the  comic  classics  of  En 
glish-speaking  nations.     Whether  read  at  the  fireside  or  acted 
in  the  theatres,  it  excites  irrepressible  mirth.     Jefferson's  Rip 
Van  Winkle  is  a  signal  illustration  of  this  remark.     His  inimi 
table  acting,  although  the  story  itself  amounts  to  nothing,  reach 
es  all  hearts,  inspiring  alternate  tears   and  smiles.     Clinton 
Lloyd,  Esq.,  the  accomplished  chief  clerk  of  the  National  House 
of  Representatives,  has  memorized  "Hans  Breitmann"  entire. 
He  is  a  native  Pennsylvanian,  reared  in  a  community  where 
this  curious  admixture  of  English  and  German  was  once  large 
ly  spoken.     He  is,  besides,  a  cultivated  gentleman,  and  per 
haps  the  best-known  interpreter  of  Leland's  famous  creation. 
I  know  of  few  things  more  pleasant  than  to  sit  by  and  hear 
Lloyd  going  through  the  experiences  of  Hans,  the  soldier  and 
the  traveler.    I  have  seen  him  entertain  hundreds  of  persons  of 
all  nationalities  at   one  time  with  this  grotesque  production. 
Sympathizing  fully  with  the  poet,  he  gives  additional  flavor  to 
his  peculiar  wit,  because  he  knows  the  character  he  describes, 


204  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

whom  you  almost  see  passing  before  you  in  his  diversified 
guises.  Mr.  Leland  is  now  a  resident  of  London,  the  friend 
and  associate  of  most  of  the  literary  leaders.  It  must  be  ex 
tremely  gratifying  to  him  that  the  amusing  poems  which  he 
threw  off  in  his  leisure  moments  should  be  read  and  admired 
in  all  intellectual  circles,  and  that  every  stanza  he  adds  in 
creases  their  deserved  popularity.  I  can  only  hope  that  he  is 
fortunate  in  something  more  than  mere  fame,  and  that  his  writ 
ings  are  contributing  to  his  substantial  comfort  in  the  Old 
World. 

Almost  as  interesting  is  it  to  hear  Mr.  Lloyd  reciting  James 
Russell  Lowell's  "  Hosea  Biglow ;"  but  the  Yankee  idiom  is 
not  so  cosmopolitan  as  the  patois  of  English  and  German.  The 
same  remark  applies  to  negro  melodies  and  plays.  The  New- 
Englander  and  the  black  man  are  Americans,  while  Hans  Breit- 
mann  is  the  citizen  of  the  world ;  his  poetry  is  a  medley  of  the 
tongues  of  the  oldest  and  most  civilized  nations,  and,  as  he 
plays  many  parts  and  borrows  a  little  from  each,  he  will  be  re 
membered  when  the  accent  of  Brother  Jonathan  and  Uncle 
Tom  is  lost  in  the  universality  of  the  language  that  must  ulti 
mately  control  the  whole  American  continent. 

[October  29,  1871.] 


XLIII. 

SLAVERY  and  its  mysterious  inner  life  has  never  yet  been  de 
scribed.  When  it  is,  Reality  will  surpass  Fiction.  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin  will  be  rebuilt  and  newly  garnitured.  A  book  detailing 
the  operations  of  the  Under-ground  Railroad  is  soon  to  be  pub 
lished  in  Philadelphia  by  William  Still,  Esq.,  an  intelligent  col 
ored  gentleman,  which,  composed  entirely  of  facts,  will  supply 
material  for  indefinite  dramas  and  romances.  It  will  disclose  a 


UNDER-GROUND    RAILROAD.  2 05 

record  of  unparalleled  courage  and  suffering  for  the  right.    The 
narrative  of  Professor  John  M.  Langston,  of  Howard  Univer 
sity,  at  Washington,  famous  as  orator  and  scholar ;  his  birth  as 
a  slave,  the  education  of  himself  and  brother  by  his  white  fa 
ther  ;  his  return,  after  many  years,  to  his  native  town  in  Virginia, 
as  the  champion  of  his  race  and  of  their  newly  acquired  free 
dom  ;  the  thrilling  story  of  Frederick  Douglass,  told  by  himself; 
the  eventful  career  of  Stephen  Smith,  the  rich  colored  man  of 
Philadelphia,  who  voted  for  Jackson  in  1832,  was  afterward  dis 
franchised  by  the  insertion  of  the  word  "white"  in  the  consti 
tution  of  Pennsylvania  in  1838,  and  again  voted  under  the  im 
mortal  act  of  emancipation ;  the  experience  of  Ebenezer  D.  Bas- 
sett,  our  resident  Minister  at  Hayti ;  the  struggle  for  self-im 
provement  of  Octavius  V.Catto,  and  the  tragedy  of  his  assassi 
nation  ;  the  early  efforts  of  John  Brown,  long  before  he  was 
known  to  the  world  as  the  willing  martyr  of  his  ideas ;  the 
sketch  of  the  inner  life  of  William  J.  Wilson,  vice-president  of 
the  Freedmen's  Savings  Institution  at  Washington,  including 
his  story  of  the  industry,  patience,  and  economy  of  his  race ; 
the  long  conflict  with  slavery  of  Senator  Revels,  of  Mississippi ; 
the  stormy  life  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Dunn,  of  Louisiana;  and 
last,  not  least,  the  memoir  of  Robert  Purvis,  the  accomplished 
gentleman  and  scholar,  residing  at  Byberry,  in  Philadelphia— 
a  memoir  which,  written  by  himself,  would  surpass  in  the  in 
tensity  of  its  interest  many  of  the  famous  autobiographies  of  the 
day— these  and  their  companion  pictures  might  be  called  the 
genuine  "  Romance  of  Reality."     The  time  is  coming  when 
they  can  be  published  without  fear  and  read  without  prejudice. 
In  the  light  of  a  civilization  which  liberated  millions,  as  well 
the  slaves  of  others  as  the  slaves  of  mere  bigotry,  men  will  pon 
der  these  volumes  with  an  indignation  and  surprise  not  less  sin 
cere  because  felt  for  the  first  time.     In  the  sanctity  which  sur 
rounded  the  institution  of  slavery— a  sanctity  resulting  from  the 
arguments  of  the  clergy,  the  politicians,  and  the  capitalists,  the 


2O6  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

habits  and  luxuries  of  the  society  created  by  the  submission  of 
its  fettered  millions,  and  its  influence  upon  commerce  in  Eu 
rope  and  America — the  still  small  voice  of  conscience  was  hush 
ed.  And  if  the  men  who  had  grown  rich  and  great  had  not 
finally  been  maddened  by  the  idea  that  they  were  irresistible 
and  inviolable,  slavery  would  have  finally  accomplished  the 
overthrow  of  the  Government.  That  idea  carried  into  war  saved 
the  nation  and  destroyed  its  enemies. 

Among  the  thousand  novel  incidents  of  emancipation,  one  of 
curious  interest,  familiar  to  myself  and  many  others,  may  be  re 
lated  : 

John  Queen  was  a  light  mulatto,  five  feet  ten  inches  high, 
about  thirty-five  years  of  age.  He  had  lived  a  slave  in  Anne 
Arundel  County,  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  and  several  years 
before  emancipation  obtained  his  free  papers.  He  was  harm 
less,  quiet,  and  inoffensive  ;  but  when  he  was  jokingly  told  that 
the  traders  were  coming  to  take  him  back  to  slavery  his  eyes 
would  flash,  and  his  whole  demeanor  would  change.  He  would 
exclaim,  "  Dey  neber  take  me  back  to  slabery.  I  die  in  de 
blood  first — I  die  in  de  blood  !  cut  out  dere  heart,  eat  der  liber. 
Is'e  free-born,  I  tell  you,  Is'e  free-born ;"  and  when  asked  to 
show  his  papers,  he  would  repeat  something  like  these  words : 

"Do  you  know  de  H d's  ?"  "Yes,  I  know  them."  "Do 

you  know  Squire  C ?"  referring  to  certain  old  Maryland 

families.  "  Do  you  mind  de  mornin'  old  Squire  H said, 

'Go,  John,  go  down  to  de  stable,  hitch  up  old  Baldy  and  de  sil- 
ber  gray,  put  em  in  de  coach,  go  to  'Napolis  to  make  out  de 

free  papers  ?'  Den  old  Squire  H came  down,  all  dressed 

up,  dressed  in  black  silk  breeches,  silber  buckle  on  de  knee,  sil- 
ber  buckle  in  de  shoes,  hair  powdered,  hanging  down  de  back ; 
John  Queen  jump  on  de  step  behind  de  coach,  and  den  we  all 
go  to  'Napolis.  When  we  got  dere  we  all  go  to  de  court,  and 

dere,  in  de  face  of  de  whole  court,  Squire  H he  kiss  de 

Book  and  do  declare  dat  John  Queen  is  a  free-born."  Upon 


JOHN  QUEEN'S  FREE  PAPERS.  207 

being  asked  to  show  his  papers,  which  he  never  would  consent 
to  do,  the  poor  half-witted  fellow,  who  had  long  years  before 
committed  them  and  locked  them  in  his  memory,  while  he  him 
self  did  keep  the  key,  in  a  monotonous  recitative  repeated  some 
thing  like  the  following,  never  varying  in  the  slightest  degree, 
and  always  reiterating  "  dat  I'se  free-born :"  "  In  de  State  of 
Maryland,  de  Ann  Arundel  County,  and  de  Anno  Domini,  in 
de  year  of  our  Lord,  de  one  tousand  and  de  eight  hundred  and 
de  forty-seven.  In  de  face  of  de  whole  court,  I  do  now  declare 
dat  John  Queen,  who  is  five  feet  ten  inches  in  de  height,  wid  de 
long,  straight,  black  hair,  yaller  in  complexion,  wid  a  mole  on 
de  right  upper  lip,  which  is  de  free-born,  in  de  testimony  where 
of  I  do  hereby,  in  de  State  of  Maryland,  in  de  County  of  Ann 
Arundel,  in  de  year  of  our  Lord,  de  Anno  Domini  one  tousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-seven,  set  my  hand  and  de  great  seal 
of  de  court,  and  do  hereby  now  declare  dat  de  aforesaid  John 
Queen  is  free-born." 

.  John  never  paused  until  he  finished  this  indubitable  proof  of 
his  freedom,  and  always  seemed  to  glean  satisfaction  from  hav 
ing  the  original  in  his  possession,  which  he  said  he  never  would 
part  from  save  with  his  heart's  blood.  Only  a  few  evenings  ago 
I  heard  this  incident  described  in  the  presence  of  some  of  the 
connections  of  the  Maryland  families  referred  to,  and  they  in 
stantly  recognized  the  picture  and  the  persons  preserved  in  the 
memory  of  this  simple  freedman.  If  I  suppress  the  names,  it  is 
only  because  it  is  unnecessary  to  revive  individual  relations  to 
a  system  which  does  no  credit  to  those  who  subsisted  upon  it, 
however  unconsciously  or  innocently. 

[November  5, 1871.] 


208  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


XLIV. 

SHORTLY  after  I  took  possession  of  the  Lancaster  Intelligencer, 
more  than  thirty-four  years  ago — before  I  had  reached  man 
hood — Mrs.  Dickson,  the  amiable  and  gentle  postmistress  of 
that  place,  handed  me  a  soiled  letter  directed  to  "  the  editor  of 
a  newspaper,"  which  she  said  had  been  in  her  possession  for 
more  than  a  year,  and  had  not  been  delivered  because  it  had 
no  definite  address.    Upon  opening  it  I  found  it  dated  Logans- 
port,  Indiana,  and  signed  by  George  W.  Ewing,  United  States 
Indian  Agent.    He  stated  that  he  had  only  recently  stopped  at 
an  Indian  wigwam  for  the  night  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississi- 
newa,  about  fifty  miles  south  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  found  it  occu 
pied  by  a  family  who  were  rich  for  Indians,  and  boasted  of  con 
siderable  property  in  houses  and  lands.     He  went  on  to  say 
that  in  the  course  of  the  evening  he  noticed  that  the  hair  of  one 
of  the  women  was  light,  and  her  skin  under  her  dress  white,  and 
so  he  entered  into  conversation  with  her,  which  was  not  diffi 
cult,  as  he  spoke  the  language  of  the  tribe.     She  told  him  she 
was  white,  but  had  been  carried  away  when  a  very  small  girl. 
She  could  only  remember  that  her  name  was  Slocum  ;  that  she 
had  lived  in  a  little  house  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna; 
also  the  number  of  her  father's  family,  and  the  order  of  their 
ages ;  but  she  could  not  recall  the  name  of  the  town  from  which 
she  was  taken.     Fascinated  by  this  romantic  story,  yet  unde 
cided  how  to  let  the  facts  be  known,  he  wrote  a  letter  and  sent 
it  to  my  native  town  of  Lancaster,  as  the  place  nearest  the  Sus 
quehanna  that  he  could  remember  of  any  importance.     After, 
as  I  have  said,  sleeping  in  the  post-office  for  many  months,  it 
came  out  through  the  columns  of  my  little  journal,  and  in  that 
way  got  to  the  Slocums  of  Wilkesbarre,  being  the  first  intelli 
gence  of  the  child  which  had  been  stolen  from  them  sixty  years 
before.     The  brother  of  Frances,  who  was  only  two  years  and 


FRANCES   SLOCUM'S   ROMANCE.  209 

a  half  old  when  his  sister  was  carried  off  by  the  Indians,  started 
for  the  Indian  country  in  company  with  his  eldest  sister,  who 
had  aided  him  to  escape,  and  another  brother,  then  living  in 
Ohio,  born  after  the  captivity  of  Frances.    After  a  long  journey 
they  found  a  little  wigwam  among  the  Miami  Indians.     "We 
shall  know  Frances/'  said  the  sister,  "  because  she  lost  the  nail 
of  her  first  finger.     You,  brother,  hammered  it  off  in  the  black 
smith  shop  when  she  was  four  years  old."     They  entered  and 
found  a  swarthy  woman  who  looked  to  be  seventy-five.    She  was 
painted,  jeweled,  and  dressed  like  an  Indian  in  all  respects. 
Nothing  but  her  hair  and  her  covered  skin  indicated  her  origin. 
They  got  an  interpreter,  asked  her  name  and  where  she  was 
born.    "  How  came  that  nail  gone  ?"  said  the  eldest  sister.    She 
answered,  "  My  elder  brother  pounded  it  off  when  I  was  a  little 
child  in  the  shop."     They  had  discovered  the  long-lost  sister. 
They  asked  her  Christian  name.     She  had  forgotten  it.    "Was 
it  Frances  ?"     As  if  smitten  by   a  revelation,  she   answered 
"Yes."     It  was  the  first  time  she  had  heard  it  pronounced  in 
sixty  years.    Here  they  were  met,  two  brothers  and  two  sisters, 
after  having  been  separated  for  more  than  half  a  century.    The 
brothers  were  walking  the  cabin,  unable  to  speak,  the  sister  was 
drowned  in  tears,  but  the  poor  Indian  sat  motionless  and  pas 
sionless.    She  could  not  speak  a  word  of  English.     She  did  not 
know  when  Sunday  came.     Was  not  this  the  consummation  of 
ignorance  in  a  descendant  of  the  Puritans?     She  was  carried 
off  by  the  Indians,  and  when  she  grew  up  she  married  one  of 
their  number.     He  either  died  or  ran  away,  and  then  she  mar, 
ried  a  Miami  chief,  since  dead.     She  had  two  daughters,  both 
married,  who,  thirty-four  years  ago,  lived  in  all  the  glory  of 
Indian  cabins,  deer-skin    clothes,  and  cow-skin  head-dresses. 
They  had  horses  in  abundance,  and  when  the  Indian  sister  ac 
companied  her  new  relatives,  she  bridled  her  horse  and  mount 
ed  it  astride.     At  night  she  slept  on  the  floor,  with  her  blanket 
around  her.     They  could  not  persuade  her  to  return  to  Wilkes- 


210  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

barre,  even  when  the  invitation  was  extended  to  her  children. 
She  had  always  lived  with  the  Indians,  they  had  been  kind  to 
her,  and  she  promised  her. last  husband  on  his  death-bed  she 
would  never  leave  them.  It  is  now  nearly  ninety-five  years 
since  this  white  child  was  torn  from  her  parents'  home  in  Wy 
oming  Valley.  She  herself  has  been  gathered  to  her  fathers, 
and  most  of  her  double  family  who  were  living  in  1838,  with 
the  exception,  I  believe,  of  Mr.  Joseph  Slocum,  now  one  of  the 
most  influential  and  respectable  citizens  of  Scranton.  Among 
all  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  this  long  interval,  few 
are  more  interesting  than  this  transformation  from  civilization 
to  barbarism. 

A  coincidence  even  more  romantic  is  soon  to  be  revealed  in 
the  pages  of  the  remarkable  book  of  William  Still,  of  Philadel 
phia,  entitled  the  "  Under-ground  Railroad,"  referred  to  in  my 
last  number.  Mr.  Still  kept  a  careful  memorandum  of  the  suf 
ferings  and  trials  of  his  race  during  the  existence  of  the  fugi 
tive-slave  law,  in  the  belief  that  they  would  be  instructive  to 
his  posterity  rather  than  from  any  hope  of  the  overthrow  of  the 
revolting  system  of  human  servitude.  But  when  that  passed 
away,  and  speech  became  as  free  as  thought,  and  the  printing- 
press,  the  school-house,  the  ballot,  and  every  civil  right,  were 
secured  to  the  colored  race,  he  resolved  to  spread  before  the 
world  this  unprecedented  experience.  When  his  book  appears 
it  will  accomplish  more  than  one  object.  Interesting  to  the 
literary  world,  it  will  undoubtedly  facilitate  the  reunion  of  other 
colored  families,  long  divided,  long  sought  for,  and  perhaps  to 
this  day  strangers  to  each  other.  The  curious  similarity  be 
tween  the  case  of  the  wealthy  Slocums  in  Wyoming  Valley  and 
the  experience  of  Mr.  Still  will  be  intensified  when  this  book  is 
published.  Here  we  find  the  story  of  Peter  Still,  torn  from  his 
mother  when  a  little  boy  of  six,  and  for  more  than  forty  years  a 
slave  in  Alabama,  totally  destitute  of  all  knowledge  of  his  par 
ents.  We  are  told  how  by  extreme  economy  and  overwork  he 


DAVID    PAUL    BROWN.  211 

saved  about  five  hundred  dollars  with  which  to  buy  his  ransom 
— how  he  started  in  search  of  his  mother  and  kindred — how  he 
reached  Philadelphia,  where,  by  having  notices  read  in  the  col 
ored  churches  that  more  than  forty  years  before  "  two  little 
boys  were  kidnapped  and  carried  South,"  he  obtained  informa 
tion  in  regard  to  them — how,  after  traveling  sixteen  hundred 
miles,  the  first  man  Peter  Still  sought  advice  from  was  his  broth 
er,  the  author  of  this  very  book  on  the  Under-ground  Railroad, 
whom  he  had  never  seen  or  heard  of — how,  after  this  mutual 
recognition,  the  self-ransomed  captive  was  destined  again  to 
suffer  the  keenest  pangs  of  sorrow  for  his  own  wife  and  chil 
dren,  whom  he  had  left  in  Alabama  in  bondage — how,  finally, 
a  brave  white  man,  Seth  Conklin,  proceeded  to  Alabama,  car 
ried  off  this  wife  and  children,  and  was  retaken  with  them,  in 
Indiana,  and  perished  while  he  was  being  carried  in  irons  back 
to  the  South,  by  leaping  from  the  boat  in  which  they  were  con 
fined.  The  volume,  containing  this  and  other  equally  romantic 
yet  truthful  stories,  will  soon  be  out,  and,  my  word  for  it,  no 
book  of  the  times  will  be  more  eagerly  read  or  more  profitably 
remembered. 

[November  12, 1871.] 


XLV. 

DAVID  PAUL  BROWN,  of  Philadelphia,  has  been  for  half  a 
century  the  favorite  orator  of  the  American  bar.  His  renown 
was  national  before  he  was  thirty;  and  as  he  not  only  never 
sought  but  resolutely  declined  office,  and  rarely  practiced  in  the 
courts  of  other  States,  his  fame  is  mainly  the  outgrowth  of  pro 
fessional  efforts  in  his  native  city.  He  is  still  living  in  Phila 
delphia,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year,  the  most  active  veteran  of 
his  time.  Who  can  not  recall  him  in  the  flush  of  his  manhood  ? 


212  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

Of  middle  height,  compactly  made,  with  a  full,  round  chest ;  his 
forehead  high  and  broad,  eyes  black,  mouth  large,  and  filled 
with  the  finest  teeth,  he  is  frequently  seen  on  the  streets,  al 
most  as  erect  and  graceful  as  when  he  thrilled  our  court-rooms 
and  was  followed  by  crowds  of  admirers.  Mr.  Brown  was  al 
ways  rather  an  exquisite  in  his  dress,  and  to  this  day  his  blue 
coat  and  brass  buttons,  buff  vest  and  light  pantaloons,  gloved 
hands,  neat  boots,  and  rather  rakish  hat,  prove  the  yotithfulness 
of  his  tastes  and  the  gayety  of  his  disposition.  He  is,  perhaps, 
too  fond  of  dress ;  but  he  defends  his  peculiarity  by  saying 
"  that  he  had  never  known  a  man  to  speak  well  in  clumsy  boots, 
nor  to  have  a  clear  mind  with  dirty  hands  and  face ;  that  he 
had  known  many  a  fop  that  was  not  a  fool,  and  many  a  sloven 
that  was  not  a  Solomon."  "A  becoming  decency  of  exterior," 
he  says,  "  may  not  be  necessary  for  ourselves,  but  is  agreeable 
to  others ;  and  while  it  may  render  a  fool  more  contemptible, 
it  serves  to  embellish  inherent  worth.  It  is  like  the  polish  of 
the  diamond,  taking  something,  perhaps,  from  its  weight,  but 
adding  much  to  its  brilliancy  and  attraction." 

Another  peculiarity  of  David  Paul  Brown  is  his  disregard  of 
money.  He  has  often  been  heard  to  say  that  he  never  was  so 
rich  and  happy  as  in  his  early  youth ;  for  then,  in  the  language 
of  Socrates,  he  wanted  least,  and  therefore  approached  nearer 
to  the  gods,  who  wanted  nothing.  He  is  not  extravagant  in  the 
mere  pleasures  of  the  world.  His  attire  is  rich,  but  his  habits 
simple  and  abstemious.  To  these  he  attributes  his  entire  free 
dom  from  pain  and  diseases  of  every  sort.  Money  has  no  value 
in  his  eyes.  Its  receipt  gives  him  no  pleasure — its  expenditure 
no  annoyance.  From  his  early  manhood  to  the  present,  though 
his  professional  income  has  exceeded  a  quarter  of  a  million,  the 
same  indifference,  the  same  recklessness,  in  regard  to  wealth, 
has  marked  his  career.  A  characteristic  anecdote  is  told  in 
this  connection.  He  studied  law  with  the  late  William  Rawle, 
a  lawyer  of  universal  celebrity,  whose  writings  and  example  are 


WILLIAM    RAWLE.  213 

fondly  treasured  by  the  profession.  The  preceptor  and  stjudent 
met  one  day,  after  the  latter  had  attained  a  high  position  at  the 
bar.  "  My  dear  Mr.  Rawle,"  said  Mr.  Brown,  "  fifteen  years 
ago  I  gave  you  my  check  for  $400,  in  return  for  your  valuable 
legal  instruction ;  since  that  time  I  find  I  have  received  for  pro 
fessional  services  upward  of  $100,000."  "  I  know,"  replied  the 
preceptor  (himself  a  most  liberal-minded  man),  "you  have  been 
very  busy,  and  it  is  necessary  to  be  very  busy  for  a  young  man 
to  make  such  a  sum  in  so  short  a  time."  "  Oh  !  but,"  rejoined 
Mr.  Brown,  "  you  don't  know  how  busy  I  have  been.  I  have 
spent  all ;  there  is  not  a  dollar  left.  Yes,  I  have  spent  it  on 
principle.  There  are  two  kinds  of  extravagance :  that  which 
arises  from  a  love  of  display,  and  that  which  springs  from  con 
tempt  of  wealth.  Mine  is  the  last.  If  I  could  become  rich,  I 
should  become  indolent,  and  lose  in  fame  what  I  gained  in 
money.  This  is  not  the  case,  perhaps,  with  all,  but  it  is  with 
me."  The  old  gentleman  laughed  heartily  at  the  amusing  can 
dor  of  his  former  eleve.  To  show  the  high  estimation  in  which 
the  pupil  was  held  by  his  revered  preceptor,  I  transcribe  the 
following  letter,  written  by  him  to  Mr.  Brown  some  ten  years 
after  his  admission.  The  applause  of  such  a  man  is  worth 
more  than  that  of  a  whole  theatre  of  critics  : 

"Mv  DEAR  SIR, — You  borrowed  of  me  some  time  ago  the  first  volume 
of  Guthrie's  Quintilian.  Will  you  allow  me  to  send  you  the  second,  with 
the  request  that  you  will  receive  them  both  into  your  library  ? 

"  The  plain  binding  will  not  affect  the  internal  merit  of  an  author  who, 
the  first  that  is  known  to  us,  systematically  and  fully  laid  down  the  precepts 
not  only  of  forensic  but  of  general  oratory,  and  who,  were  he  now  living, 
would  be  delighted  to  perceive  a  full  illustration  of  what  he  requires  to  form 
an  accomplished  orator  in  yourself. 

"  With  unfeigned  respect  and  esteem,  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend,  W.  RAWLE. 

"March  31,  1828. 

"To  DAVID  PAUL  BROWN,  Esq." 

And  it  is  as  an  orator  that  he  deserves  to  be  remembered. 


214  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

As  a  criminal  lawyer  he  has  few  equals.  His  examination  of 
witnesses  and  his  appeals  to  the  jury  illustrate  his  peculiar  tal 
ents.  A  voice  of  rare  compass  and  sweetness;  a  command  of 
the  best  phrases;  a  master  of  action,  his  pathos  melts  and  sub 
dues,  his  invective  startles  and  dismays.  Once,  on  a  celebrated 
trial,  he  objected  to  a  certain  witness  being  heard  because  the 
witness  was  a  convict.  Great  consternation  ensued.  The  wit 
ness  was  indignant,  spoke  of  his  good  character,  and  defied  his 
accuser.  But  he  had  met  his  master.  Mr.  Brown  fixed  his 
searching  eye  upon  him,  and  then  spoke  :  "  I  have  objected  to 
your  evidence,  sir.  This  objection  is  founded  upon  a  knowl 
edge  of  your  character.  Answer  me,  sir.  Were  you  not  con 
victed  and  punished  in  the  State  of  Delaware  for  a  heinous 
crime  ?"  "  No,  sir  !"  This  was  uttered  with  an  evidently  as 
sumed  boldness.  "  Now,"  said  the  lawyer,  "  if  I  were  to  strip 
up  the  sleeves  of  your  coat,  and  point  to  the  letter  R  branded 
on  your  right  arm,  near  the  shoulder,  and  say  this  was  done  at 
New  Castle,  Delaware,  what  answer  would  you  make  ?"  The 
poor  wretch  was  crushed;  his  artificial  courage  melted  away 
before  the  fire  of  an  intellectual  eye.  It. is  scarcely  necessary 
to  add  that  Mr.  Brown  won  his  cause.  Industrious  and  perse 
vering,  he  never  was  the  slave  of  the  black-letter.  He  always 
delighted  in  literature,  and  was  a  consummate  Shakespearian 
interpreter.  Chief  Justice  Gibson,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  very  em 
inent  authority,  said,  "He  does  not  quote  Shakespeare — he 
speaks  Shakespeare."  It  was  natural  that  he  should  affect  the 
drama.  His  rhetoric,  his  manner,  his  voice,  were  modeled  after 
the  best  standards,  and  he  firmly  believed  that  the  very  best 
case  was  improved  by  being  set  forth  gracefully  and  eloquently. 
Hence  he  alternated,  or  rather  relieved  the  heavy  toil  of  his 
profession  by  reading  and  writing  poetry,  by  lectures  on  "  Ham 
let,"  by  orations  on  patriotic  subjects,  and  by  a  mass  of  miscel 
laneous  composition.  "  How  is  it  possible  you  can  do  so  much 
business  ?"  was  the  question  of  a  friend.  "  Because,"  was  the 


THE   AMERICAN    FORUM.  21$ 

practical  reply,  "I  have  got  so  much  to  do."  "But,"  was  the 
rejoinder,  "how  can  you  indulge  in  poetry  and  general  litera 
ture  ?"  "  Because,"  he  replied — "  because  it  enables  me  to  re 
turn  to  my  more  rugged  pursuits  with  greater  alacrity  and  re 
newed  strength.  The  mind  takes  its  direction  from  habit ;  if 
you  wish  to  strengthen  it  you  must  direct  it  for  a  time  into 
other  channels,  and  thereby  refresh  and  improve  it.  A  mere 
lawyer  is  a  mere  jackass,  and  has  never  the  power  to  unload 
himself;  whereas  I  consider  the  advocate — the  thoroughly  ac 
complished  advocate — the  highest  style  of  a  man.  He  is  al 
ways  ready  to  learn,  and  always  ready  to  teach.  Hortensius 
was  a  lawyer,  Cicero  an  orator.  The  one  is  forgotten,  the  other 
is  immortal."  He  wrote  "  Sertorius,  or  the  Roman  Patriot,"  a 
tragedy,  in  1830;  "The  Prophet  of  St.  Paul,"  a  melodrama;  and 
a  farce  called  "Love  and  Honor,  or  the  Generous  Soldier." 
The  elder  Booth  took  the  leading  character  in  the  first,  which 
was  represented  nine  times.  Mr.  Brown  was  not  vain  of  these 
productions.  He  said,  quaintly  enough,  "  I  must  say  they  de 
rived  greater  celebrity  from  their  author  than  their  author  will 
derive  from  them." 

He  has  written  much  on  other  subjects.  "The  Forum,  or 
Forty  Years'  full  Practice  at  the  Philadelphia  Bar,"  a  work 
published  by  subscription,  in  1856,  in  two  large  volumes,  is  a 
mine  of  learning  to  student  and  statesman.  After  a  review  of 
the  practice  of  the  law  before  the  Revolution,  and  its  history 
from  the  Declaration  of  Independence  to  the  year  1856,  we 
have  a  series  of  biographical  sketches  of  distinguished  American 
lawyers,  with  an  entertaining  description  of  their  personal  ap 
pearance,  manners,  dress,  etc.  Justices  Washington,  Tilghman, 
Breckinridge,  and  others,  now  deceased,  are  passed  in  review, 
and  then  he  takes  up  the  living.  The  celebrated  trials  which 
have  occurred  in  our  civil  and  criminal  courts  (in  many  of 
which  he  took  part)  are  described,  with  anecdotes  of  the  giants 
of  the  bench  and  bar,  and  a  chapter  on  legal  wit.  "  The  Golden 


2i6  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Rules  for  the  Examination  of  Witnesses,"  "Capital  Hints  in 
Capital  Cases,"  and  "  Instructions  from  a  Father  to  his  Son," 
are  still  in  demand,  and  have  passed  through  several  editions. 

He  can  not  yet  be  said  to  have  left  the  arena  in  which,  for 
fifty-six  years,  he  has  been  so  conspicuous  an  actor.  He  lives 
in  honored  and  vigorous  old  age,  keenly  alive  to  all  the  great 
events  of  an  eventful  era.  Even  as  I  write  I  have  some  of  his 
MSS.  before  me.  His  thoughts  are  clearly  stated,  and  his  con 
tributions  practical  and  pleasing.  He  is  still  averse  to  party 
politics,  though,  as  ever,  an  ardent  Republican  patriot.  His 
passion  for  literature  is  unabated,  and  if  he  touches  public 
questions,  if  is  only  in  a  tolerant  and  judicial  spirit.  Few  men 
have  enjoyed  life  more  thoroughly;  few  have  seen  more  of  our 
mighty  minds ;  and  none  survive  with  a  warmer  love  of  country 
or  a  larger  share  of  the  love  of  their  countrymen.  He  has 
passed  the  Psalmist's  age,  and  bids  fair  to  live  to  see  the  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  that  Declaration  of  Independence  of 
which  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  gifted  of  interpreters  and 
champions. 

[November  19,  1871.] 


XLVL 

JULY  4,  1876,  will  be  a  proud  and  happy  day  to  those  who 
shall  live  to  see  it,  especially  in  Philadelphia,  where  it  is  to  be 
celebrated  under  peculiar  historical  and  national  auspices,  as 
the  hundredth  anniversary  of  our  independence.  A  little  more 
than  four  years  and  a  half  remain  to  digest  plans  and  to  execute 
them.  These  will  be  various  and  numerous,  and  many  will  be 
visionary  and  impracticable.  The  primal  conditions  to  success 
should  be  discrimination  against  pretenders  — a  cultivated 
knowledge  of  and  taste  for  art,  and  a  resolute  resistance  to  ev- 


THE   CENTENARY   COMMISSION.  217 

cry  thing  selfish  or  corrupt.  Happily  the  men  at  the  head  of 
Fairmount  Park,  which,  with  its  twenty-eight  hundred  acres,  is 
to-day  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  and  in  a  few  years 
will  be  the  completest  and  loveliest,  are  generally  citizens  of 
national  and  local  reputation.  As  they  will  have  much  to  do 
with  the  preliminaries  and  control  of  the  Centenary,  I  give  their 
names  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  want  some  assurance 
that  their  efforts  and  interest  in  this  important  movement  shall 
not  be  wasted  :  Morton  McMichael  (president),  journalist ; 
General  George  G.  Meade  (vice-president),  topographical  en 
gineer  ;  Samuel  W.  Cattell,  manufacturer;  Theodore  Cuyler, 
attorney-at-law ;  Daniel  M.  Fox,  real-estate  agent ;  Frederick 
Graeff,  civil  engineer;  Joseph  Harrison,  Jr.,  manufacturer; 
Henry  Huhn,  coal  shipper ;  Strickland  Kneass,  surveyor ;  Henry 
M.  Phillips,  attorney-at-law;  Eli  K.  Price,  attorney-at-law;  Jon 
athan  H.  Pugh,  locksmith;  Gustavus  Remak,  attorney-at-law; 
William  Sellers,  machinist;  John  Welsh,  merchant;  James  Mc- 
Manes,  gentleman.  There  is  hardly  one  name  in  this  list  that 
is  not  a  guarantee  of  integrity  and  responsibility.  Several  are 
connoisseurs  of  art,  the  owners  of  fine  pictures  and  statuary,  and 
nearly  all  men  of  wealth.  They  represent  different  vocations  and 
both  parties.  Having  no  other  motive  but  that  which  concerns 
the  public,  and  no  temptation  but  to  honor  themselves  and  the 
country,  they  will  be  to  Philadelphia  what  the  New  York  Central 
Park  Commission  was  before  Sweeny  and  Tweed  polluted  it  with 
their  creatures,  and  removed  Colonel  Stebbins,  its  president,  and 
Mr.  Green,  its  incorruptible  treasurer.  The  confidence  crystal 
lized  around  the  New  York  Park  Commission,  under  the  admin 
istration  of  these  excellent  men,  was  such  that  at  one  time  it 
was  proposed  to  place  the  best  portion  of  the  city  government 
in  their  hands.  Two  short  years  avenged  the  wrong  inflicted 
in  their  rude  removal.  The  people  rose  against  Tammany,  and 
the  historical  Committee  of  Seventy,  their  agent  in  the  rescue 
and  redemption  of  their  great  State  and  city,  had  Colonel  11. 

K 


2l8  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

G.  Stebbins  for  its  president,  and  Mr.  Green  as  his  most  efficient 
auxiliary ;  and  now  both  are  to  go  back  to  the  Central  Park 
Commission,  as  if  to  complete  their  own  vindication  and  the 
retribution  of  the  spoilers.  Let  us  take  care  to  maintain  the 
Philadelphia  Park  Commission,  soon  to  enter  upon  a  wider  field 
of  action,  and  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  preparations  for 
the  grandest  national  event  of  the  country,  so  that,  with  com 
mensurate  dignity  and  energy,  it  may  fulfill  the  mission  assigned 
to  it. 

One  suggestion  is  made  in  connection  with  the  Centenary  of 
Independence  which  deserves  the  consideration  of  the  Fair- 
mount  Park  Commission.  There  is  not  a  county  in  Pennsyl 
vania  that  can  not  point  to  names  of  national  and  even  world 
wide  renown.  I  need  not  recount  a  catalogue  brilliant  with  the 
services  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  Robert  Morris,  Anthony  Wayne, 
Robert  Fulton,  Lindley  Murray,  David  Rittenhouse,  Peter  Muh- 
lenberg,  and  their  contemporaries  and  successors  in  war  and 
peace,  in  science  and  in  statesmanship,  in  art,  in  law,  in  medicine, 
in  religion,  in  manufactures,  and  in  skilled  labor.  The  suggestion 
is  that  every  county  should  select  one  of  these  departed  wor 
thies,  and  have  a  colossal  statue  to  represent  him,  in  bronze, 
marble,  or  iron,  ready  for  Fairmount  Park  in  season  for  the 
Centenary,  there  to  remain  during  all  time.  The  tribute  would 
be  graceful,  and  the  cost  comparatively  small.  There  is  not  a 
county  in  Pennsylvania  that  could  not  easily  afford  to  perpetu 
ate  the  features  of  one  of  its  illustrious  sons.  The  condition 
precedent,  however,  should  be  that  the  work  itself  should  be 
done  by  an  accomplished  artist.  Save  us,  O  Park  Commission  ! 
from  the  effigies  and  caricatures  that  have  so  often  disfigured 
and  disgraced  our  lovely  cities,  and  that  still  dishonor  our  na 
tion's  capital.  "  Art  is  long,"  says  the  poet.  Art  is  not  the 
growth  of  the  hour,  but  of  the  ages.  As  it  is  created  to  endure, 
it  can  not  graduate  at  once.  If  years  of  toil,  study,  and  patience 
are  essential  to  ripen  a  statesman,  a  scholar,  a  philosopher,  a 


THE  CENTENARV  OF  SEVENTY-SIX.  219 

poet,  or  a  complete  mechanic,  so  are  they  essential  to  the  cre 
ation  of  an  artist,  who  should  be  a  combination  of  varied  learn 
ing.  We  have  some  fine  specimens  of  American  genius.  Our 
Powers,  Story,  Rogers,  Rothermel,  Miss  Hosmer,  Reade,  Ball, 
Baillie,  Miss  Stebbins,  Church,  Bierstadt,  etc.,  are  acknowledged 
leaders.  But  we  should  not  be  ashamed  to  lay  under  contribu 
tion  the  best  minds  of  Europe  when  we  come  to  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  memorials  of  those  who  have  done  so  much  for  the 
liberty  and  the  elevation  of  the  whole  human  race.  No  crude 
brain  or  'prentice  hand  should  be  employed,  simply  because  it 
is  of  domestic  growth,  and  no  acknowledged  master  should  be 
excluded  because  he  was  born  under  French,  Italian,  German, 
or  English  skies.  As  we  shall  invite  the  liberal  thinkers  of  all 
nations  to  join  us  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1876 — as  we  shall  look 
for  John  Bright,  Louis  Kossuth,  Edouard  Laboulaye,  Guiseppe 
Garibaldi,  Victor  Hugo,  Emilio  Castelar,  Guiseppe  Mazzini,  Al 
fred  Tennyson,  Charles  Reade,  and  the  republican  teachers  of 
Germany,  we  must  extend  a  welcome,  at  least  as  warm,  to  the 
ripe  and  aspiring  minds  who  are  beautifying  the  galleries, 
churches,  and  streets  of  Paris,  London,  Berlin,  Dresden,  Mu 
nich,  Brussels,  Cologne,  Frankfort,  Dusseldorf,  Florence,  Na 
ples,  Venice,  Turin,  and  Imperial  Rome.  Art  knows  no  party 
and  no  country.  America  is  eventually  and  inexorably  the 
chief  of  civilization.  Opening  her  arms  to  all  the  children  of 
men,  she  will  gather  to  her  side  with  a  precious  love  those  for 
tunate  ones  whom  God  has  most  generously  crowned  with  his 
richest  gifts.  An  able  writer,  in  a  late  number  of  a  London 
magazine,  Temple  Bar,  thus  sets  forth  the  verdict  of  enlightened 
Europe,  in  a  contrast  between  this  country  and  France.  We 
can  not  be  unmindful  of  the  duty  here  taught  us  in  our  relations 
to  the  rest  of  mankind  : 

"  America,  not  France,  has  been  the  propagandist  of  democ 
racy,  and  has  instituted  the  only  successful  republic  of  ancient 
or  modern  times — a  republic  of  which  the  foundations  have 


220  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

been  cemented  by  no  unrighteously  spilled  blood,  nor  under 
mined  by  fantastic  social  theories ;  a  republic  founded  on  rea 
son,  on  the  unalterable  principles  of  humanity,  neither  twisted 
nor  forced  from  their  natural  channels  to  harmonize  with  indi 
vidual  ideas ;  on  the  purely  normal  development  of  certain 
conditions  of  society  and  their  only  practical  solution.  Ameri 
can  republicanism  means  the  advancement  of  the  human  race  ; 
French  republicanism  its  destruction.  Commerce  and  the  arts 
of  peace  are  the  weapons  of  the  one ;  fire  and  sword  are  the 
weapons  of  the  other." 
[November  26, 1871.] 


XLVII. 

MORE  than  twenty  years  ago  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
David  Hoffman,  of  Baltimore,  the  eminent  lawyer  and  legal 
writer,  who  died  of  apoplexy  shortly  after  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  seventy  years  old.  I  was  introduced  to  him  at  the  din 
ner-table  of  Charles  Jared  Ingersoll,  then  living  in  Walnut 
Street,  near  Fifth,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  an  equally  inter 
esting  character,  of  more  experience,  if  not  profounder  learning, 
who  was  born  in  1782,  and  died  on  the  i4th  of  May,  1862,  at 
the  great  age  of  eighty.  Marked  deeply  in  my  memory  of  that 
afternoon  were  two  anecdotes  of  General  Washington,  whom 
these  interesting  veterans  had  known  in  their  youth.  Mr.  Hoff 
man,  while  playfully  reminding  his  contemporary  and  friend  of 
his  ancient  Federalism  [Mr.  Ingersoll  was  one  of  the  ablest  of 
the  Democratic  leaders  at  the  time],  took  special  pains  to  illus 
trate  his  own  consistent  attachment  to  what  he  was  pleased  to 
call  the  doctrines  and  teachings  of  Washington,  by  relating  how. 
as  a  lad  of  twelve,  he  had  met  the  Father  of  his  Country  at 
Beltzhoover's  Hotel,  in  Light  Street,  Baltimore. .  An  immense 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  221 

crowd  had  assembled  to  greet  the  patriot.  Hoffman,  with  two 
other  boys,  lingered  after  the  concourse  had  dispersed,  for  an 
opportunity  to  see  and  converse  with  the  honored  guest.  Wash 
ington  had  retired  to  his  chamber,  but  answered  the  knock  of 
the  boys  by  opening  his  door  and  inviting  them  in.  In  those 
days  the  French  republicans  had  a  large  class  of  imitators  and 
followers  in  the  United  States,  and  Hoffman's  two  companions 
wore  what  was  known  as  the  Jefferson  or  French  cockade  in 
their  caps.  After  Washington  had  asked  their  names,  he  turned 
to  Hoffman  and  said,  "  I  see  that  you  have  no  cockade ;  will 
you  allow  me  to  make  one  for  you  ?"  And  calling  a  servant, 
he  directed  him  to  purchase  a  piece  of  black  ribbon,  and  "  with 
this,"  said  Mr.  Hoffman,  "  he  cut  out  for  me  a  black  cockade, 
which  he  pinned  to  my  cap  with  his  own  hands ;  and  that  is 
why  I  have  remained  a  Washington  Federalist  to  this  day,  and 
why  I  shall  die  one."  Mr.  Ingersoll  followed  with  an  incident 
not  less  interesting.  In  his  thirteenth  year  he  had  seen  Gen 
eral  Washington  in  Philadelphia.  Playing  around  his  residence 
in  Market  Street,  near  Fifth,  with  some  of  the  children  connected 
with  the  Washington  family,  he  was  persuaded  into  the  house, 
and  dined  at  the  table  with  the  great  man,  his  wife,  Mrs.  Martha 
Washington,  and  his  military  aids  or  secretaries.  Mr.  Ingersoll 
described  Washington  as  stately  and  austere.  No  conversation 
took  place  during  the  meal.  He  filled  his  own  glass  of  madeira 
silently,  passed  the  decanter  to  his  lady,  and  then  took  wine 
with  the  guests,  the  boys  inclusive.  It  was  a  long  and  quiet 
repast,  and  the  boys  were  glad  when  it  was  over.  Washington 
rose  first,  and  passed  to  his  front  door,  where  three  horses  were 
in  waiting  in  the  hands  of  the  grooms ;  the  General  mounted 
one,  the  aids  the  others,  and  all  three  rode  rapidly  out  of  Fifth 
Street. 

There  are  not  many  living  who  could  relate  similar  experi 
ences.  Mrs.  Mary  Ellet,  whose  memoir  I  had  the  honor  of 
writing,  and  who  lived  to  be  nearly  ninety,  dying  in  the  city  of 


222  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Philadelphia  about  two  years  ago,  was  full  of  these  reminiscen 
ces.  There  are  doubtless  old  families  whose  records  and  recol 
lections  abound  in  stories  of  the  Revolutionary  and  ante-Revo 
lutionary  heroes  and  statesmen.  As  we  approach  the  Centen 
nial  Anniversary  of  American  Independence  these  materials 
ought  to  be  collected  and  edited.  Our  Historical  Societies 
could  in  no  better  way  honor  the  day  and  increase  their  useful 
ness  than  by  publishing  every  thing  pertaining  to  the  immortal 
characters  who  deliberated  at  Philadelphia  during  the  early 
stages  of  the  Revolution,  and  down  to  the  period  when  the  seat 
of  the  National  Government  was  finally  removed  to  the  city  of 
Washington,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  There  is  hardly 
an  old  State,  from  Maine  to  South  Carolina,  that  is  not  instinct 
with  private  and  personal  recollections  of  these  men  and  their 
works.  In  the  five  years  between  now  and  the  4th  of  July, 
1876,  much  could  be  gathered  from  these  sources  to  add  to  the 
interest  of  that  auspicious  anniversary,  and  to  perpetuate  our 
gratitude  for  those  who  first  destroyed  the  British  power,  and 
then  laid  the  foundations  of  American  liberty  on  this  continent. 

[December  3,  1871.] 


XLVIII. 

FROM  the  month  of  December,  1860,  to  the  igih  of  April,  1861, 
we  made  history  like  magic.  Parties  dissolved  and  sections 
consolidated.  Professed  politicians  became  practical  patriots; 
professed  patriots  became  practical  traitors.  Andrew  Johnson 
struck  the  first  blow  on  the  igth  of  December,  1860,  in  the 
Senate,  and  continued  pounding  against  the  Secessionists  all 
through  the  war,  insanely  changing  his  course  only  when  assas 
sination  and  accident  made  him  President — throwing  away  the 
ripest  fruits  of  what  seemed  to  be  honest  endeavors,  and  that 


FOUR   MONTHS   OF   EXCITEMENT.  2  23 

golden  opportunity  which  rarely  comes  more  than  once  in  a 
lifetime.  Of  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  General  Cass,  Howell  Cobb, 
and  John  B.  Floyd  all  resigned  at  an  early  day,  and  Jacob 
Thompson  later — Cass  in  the  spirit  of  profound  attachment  to 
the  Constitution ;  the  others  with  defiance  and  threats.  The 
two  Houses  of  Congress  were  two  theatres.  The  galleries  were 
filled  with  excited  spectators.  Few  speeches  were  made  by  the 
Union  men,  and  almost  none  by  the  Republicans,  until  honest 
Ben  Wade,  of  Ohio,  broke  silence  and  gave  tongue  to  the  feel 
ings  of  an  outraged  people.  Especially  was  Philadelphia  an 
interesting  scene  during  these  initial  months.  The  meeting  at 
the  Board  of  Trade  Rooms  on  Thursday,  the  3d  of  January, 
1861,  called  to  decide  "What  measures  should  be  adopted  in 
the  present  condition  of  our  national  affairs,"  was  an  extraordi 
nary  event.  The  veteran  Colonel  Cephas  G.  Childs  presided. 
There  were  some  differences  between  those  who  participated, 
but  .the  sentiment  of  devotion  to  the  Union  was  almost  unani 
mous.  That  meeting  resulted  in  a  committee  to  make  prepa 
rations  for  a  larger  demonstration  at  National  Hall,  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  Saturday  succeeding,  January  5,  1861.  In  looking 
over  the  names  of  those  who  took  part  in  that  monster  and 
electric  popular  upheaval  I  find  representatives  of  all  parties. 
Many  have  passed  away.  We  no  longer  see  the  familiar  forms 
of  Commodore  Charles  Stewart,  Evans  Rogers,  J.  Murray  Rush, 
Joseph  R.  Ingersoll,  Edward  Coles,  George  W.  Nebinger,  John 
B.  Myers,  John  Grigg,  Oswald  Thompson,  Henry  Horn,  Cephas 
G.  Childs,  Edward  Gratz,  George  A.  £offey,  John  M.  Butler, 
James  Landy,  Edward  G.  Webb,  Robert  T.  Carter,  and  George 
W.  Thorn.  All  these  have  gone.  Among  the  resolutions  adopt 
ed  and  indorsed  by  the  Republicans  and  many  of  the  Demo 
cratic  leaders  of  Philadelphia,  was  the  following  axiomatic  and 
fundamental  declaration : 

"  That  all  persons  who  wage  war  against  the  United  States 
for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  Government  established  by 


224  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

our  fathers,  and  for  any  other  purpose  whatever,  or  who  aid, 
sanction,  counsel,  or  encourage  them,  can  not  be  regarded  in 
any  other  light  than  as  public  enemies." 

The  gentleman  who  introduced  the  resolutions  was  J.  Mur 
ray  Rush,  since  deceased,  son  of  the  late  venerable  Richard 
Rush,  widely  known  as  a  consummate  statesman.  Co-opera 
ting  with  him  were  such  Philadelphia  Democrats  as  General 
Robert  Patterson,  Lewis  C.  Cassidy,  William  A.  Porter,  George 
Northrop,  Benjamin  Rush,  and  George  W.  Nebinger.  The  vet 
eran  William  D.  Lewis,  who  presided,  and  whose  speech  was  as 
full  of  fire  as  any  of  the  younger  orators,  and  Horace  Binney, 
who  wrote  a  glowing  appeal,  now  almost  a  centenarian,  are  yet 
among  us. 

Other  cities  and  towns  were  equally  prompt  and  outspoken, 
but  Philadelphia,  with  Boston,  took  tfae  start  and  maintained  it. 
AVhen  war  was  inevitable,  Philadelphia,  like  Boston,  became  a 
rendezvous  of  loyal  spirits.  She  symbolized  her  purpose  by 
her  memorable  reception  of  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Independence  Hall, 
on  the  22d  of  February,  1861;  by  her  first  welcome  to  the 
Union  troops  as  they  passed  along  Washington  Avenue  to  the 
national  capital;  by  the  impromptu  organization  of  the  Cooper- 
Shop  Refreshment  Saloon,  which  soon  became  a  national  Mec 
ca;  by  her  magnificent  Sanitary  Fair;  and  her  great  Union 
League,  beginning  with  a  few  gentlemen  at  a  social  meeting, 
and  increasing  into  a  brotherhood  of  seventeen  hundred,  wield 
ing  a  potential  influence  in  local,  State,  and  general  politics — a 
society  not  less  distinguished  for  the  culture  of  its  members 
than  for  the  gracious  hospitalities  extended  to  liberal  strangers 
of  every  sect  and  clime. 

On  the  day  after  the  firing  upon  Fort  Sumter  I  met  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  upon  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  in  the  city  of  Washing 
ton.  Naturally  anxious  to  ascertain  what  part  he  would  take 
in  coming  events,  I  put  the  question  to  him,  "What  is  now  to 
be  done  ?  My  dear  friend,  what  are  we  to  do?" 


STEPHEN    A.  DOUGLAS.  225 

I  shall  never  forget  his  answer  :  "  We  must  fight  for  our  coun 
try  and  forget  all  differences.  There  can  be  but  two  parties — 
the  party  of  patriots  and  the  party  of  traitors.  We  belong  to 
the  first."  Abraham  Lincoln  was  President.  His  old  adver 
sary,  who  had  defeated  him  for  Senator  in  1858,  and  whom  he 
(Lincoln)  had  defeated  for  President  in  1860,  called  that  very 
day  at  the  White  House  and  proffered  his  counsel  and  his  serv 
ices.  The  firing  upon  Sumter  on  the  i4th  of  April,  followed  by 
the  attack  upon  the  Massachusetts  troops  on  the  igth  of  the 
same  month,  raised  the  question  how  the  soldiers  of  the  North 
were  to  reach  the  capital,  already  beleaguered  by  the  prepared 
hosts  of  the  South.  It  was  in  the  discussion  of  this  question 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  made  the  memorable  remark,  "If  we  can  not 
pass  over  Baltimore,  or  under  Baltimore,  we  must  necessarily 
pass  through  Baltimore  •"  and  it  was  in  one  of  his  interviews 
that  Judge  Douglas  pressed  the  suggestion  which  originated  in 
Massachusetts  that  we  might  go  round  Baltimore,  and  reach 
Washington  via  Annapolis  by  water — a  suggestion  subsequent 
ly  successfully  carried  out.  During  this  cordial  intercourse 
Mr.  Lincoln  solicited  Judge  Douglas  to  go  to  the  West  and 
raise  his  voice  in  favor  of  the  Government ;  and  it  was  in  re 
sponse  to  this  request  that  the  great  Senator  turned  his  face 
homeward,  and  made  the  magnetic  speech  which  aroused  his 
followers,  and  gave  to  the  Administration  that  timely  support 
which  helped  to  fill  our  armies,  to  increase  the  Republican 
column,  and  to  add  to  Republican  counsels  the  culture  and 
courage  of  the  flower  of  the  Democratic  party.  Let  me  quote 
this  his  farewell  speech  at  Chicago  on  the  first  of  May,  1861 — 
the  faithful  echo  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  affectionate  appeal  in  the  pre 
ceding  April.  These  golden  words  should  never  be  forgotten : 

"  The  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  mere  pretext.  The  present 
secession  movement  is  the  result  of  an  enormous  conspiracy 
formed  more  than  a  year  since — formed  by  leaders  in  the  South 
ern  Confederacy  more  than  twelve  months  ago.  They  use  the 

K2 


226  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

slavery  question  as  a  means  to  aid  the  accomplishment  of  their 
ends.  They  desired  the  election  of  a  Northern  candidate  by  a 
sectional  vote,  in  order  to  show  that  the  two  sections  can  not 
live  together.  When  the  history  of  the  two  years  from  the  Le- 
compton  question  down  to  the  Presidential  election  shall  be 
written  it  will  be  shown  that  the  scheme  was  deliberately  made 
to  break  up  this  Union. 

"They  desired  a  Northern  Republican  to  be  elected  by  a 
purely  Northern  vote,  and  then  assign  this  fact  as  a  reason  why 
the  sections  can  not  live  together.  If  the  Disunion  candidate 
in  the  late  Presidential  contest  had  carried  the  united  South, 
their  scheme  was,  the  Northern  candidate  successful,  to  seize  the 
capital  last  spring,  and,  by  a  united  South  and  a  divided  North, 
hold  it.  Their  scheme  was  defeated  in  the  defeat  of  the  Dis 
union  candidate  in  several  of  the  Southern  States. 

"  But  this  is  no  time  for  a  detail  of  causes.  The  conspiracy 
is  now  known ;  armies  have  been  raised ;  war  is  levied  to  ac 
complish  it.  There  are  only  two  sides  to  the  question.  Every 
man  must  be  for  the  United  States  or  against  it.  There  can  be 
no  neutrals  in  this  war — only  patriots  or  traitors." 

A  little  more  than  a  month  after  (June  3,  1861),  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  died  at  Chicago,  aged  forty-eight  years  and  two  months. 
But  Abraham  Lincoln  did  not  forget  him.  He  directed  the  De 
partments  to  be  clothed  in  mourning  and  the  colors  of  the  dif 
ferent  Union  regiments  to  be  craped.  Nor  did  his  sympathy 
end  in  words.  He  seized  the  first  occasion  to  honor  the  sons 
of  Douglas— an  example  fitly  followed  by  General  Grant.  Rob 
ert  Martin  Douglas  is  one  of  the  President's  private  secretaries, 
and  his  brother,  Stephen  A.Douglas,  Jr.,  a  leading  Republican 
in  North  Carolina,  in  full  accord  with  the  Administration.  It  is 
gratifying  to  add,  as  I  feel  I  may  now  do  by  authority,  that  had 
Judge  Douglas  lived  he  would  have  been  called  into  the  Ad 
ministration  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  or  placed  in  one  of  the  high 
est  military  commands.  The  relations  of  the  present  Chief 


CALEB   GUSHING.  227 

Magistrate  to  the  friends  of  Douglas  were  closer  and  more  in 
timate  than  those  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  had  Douglas  survived  he  would  to-day  be  one  of  the  coun 
selors  of  President  Grant,  who  himself  was  a  citizen  of  Illinois 
at  the  time  Judge  Douglas  was  sweeping  the  Buchanan  hosts 
out  of  the  field.     John  A.  Rawlins,  the  nearest  friend  and  Sec 
retary  of  War  of  Grant,  was  also  the  nearest  friend  of  Douglas. 
What  a  power  Douglas  would  have  been,  enlisted  on  the  right 
side,  with  all  his  prophecies  proved,  all  his  Southern  enemies 
crushed,  with  his  plan  of  transcontinental  railroads  vindicated 
and  increased,  with  our  new  Territories  controlled  and  freed 
by  the  voice  of  the  people,  with  the  Mormon  problem  he  so 
boldly  attacked  on  the  eve  of  solution,  and  the  great  West  re 
alizing  every  day  his  hopes  of  supreme  empire  ! 
[December  10,  1871.] 


XLIX. 


No  member  of  the  Geneva  Conference  raised  under  the 
Treaty  of  Washington  to  adjust  questions  arising  out  of  that 
convention  will  attract  more  notice  than  the  senior  counsel  of 
the  American  members,  Caleb  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts.    Born 
on  the  iyth  of  January,  1800,  and  therefore  on  the  verge  of 
seventy-two,  he  is,  for  his  years,  one  of  the  most  vigorous  intel 
lects  in  the  world.     His  long  career  of  more  than  half  a  cent 
ury  has  been  singularly  varied.     A  graduate  of  Harvard  Col 
lege  in  1817,  subsequently  a  tutor  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy,  he  studied  law  at  Cambridge,  and  settled  at  New- 
buryport,  still  his  Massachusetts  residence,  to  practice  the  pro 
fession  which  he  formally  entered  in   1822.     In   1825-26  he 
served  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  in  1829  visited  Europe, 
and  published  on  his  return  "  Reminiscences  of  Spain,"  a  de- 


228  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

lightful  book,  and  a  profound  review  of  the  Revolution  in 
France.  He  was  also  one  of  the  favorite  writers  of  the  old 
North  American  Review.  In  1833-34  he  was  again  elected  to 
the  Legislature,  and  was  a  Representative  in  Congress  from 
1835  to  l843-  Appointed  by  President  Tyler  commissioner 
to  China,  he  negotiated  an  important  treaty.  On  his  return, 
in  1846,  he  was  again  elected  to  the  State  Legislature.  In  1847 
he  was  chosen  colonel  of  volunteers  in  the  Mexican  war,  and 
was  afterward  made  brigadier-general  by  President  Polk.  In 
1850  he  was  elected  for  the  fifth  time  to  the  State  Legislature, 
and  in  1851  made  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa 
chusetts.  When  President  Pierce  was  elected,  Caleb  Cushing 
was  made  his  Attorney-General,  and  at  the  end  of  his  term  he 
returned  to  Massachusetts,  and  was  again  elected  to  the  Legis 
lature.  He  was  president  of  the  Democratic  Charleston  Con 
vention  in  1860  to  nominate  a  President,  and  in  July,  1866,  was 
appointed  by  Andrew  Johnson  one  of  the  three  commissioners 
to  codify  and  revise  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  When  he 
accepted  the  post  of  American  counselor  to  the  commissioners 
under  the  English  treaty  he  was  the  advocate  of  the  Mexican 
Government  before  the  United  States  and  Mexican  Claims 
Commission.  Few  men  living  can  point  to  such  an  experience 
— few  are  better  qualified  by  varied  acquirements  and  personal 
address  to  cope  with  the  ripe  and  thorough  statesmen  sent  by 
Great  Britain  to  Geneva. 

General  Cushing  was  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
Whig  leaders;  and  when  John  Tyler  severed  his  connection 
with  that  party,  he  and  Henry  A.  Wise,  and  one  or  two  more, 
constituted  what  was  called  the  Tyler  Guard  in  the  House. 
After  that  he  gradually  changed  his  course,  and  became  as 
prominent  a  leader  of  the  Democrats.  At  present,  without  any 
special  party  proclivities  —  having  reached  what  Mr.  Sumner 
calls  "the  philosophic  age" — he  devotes  himself  to  law  and 
literature.  It  is  not  denied  that  he  is  frequently  employed  at 


CALEB    GUSHING.  229 

the  Department  of  State,  and  no  doubt  by  other  Departments, 
in  the  preparation  of  important  papers.     I  have  heard  him  at 
a  dinner-table  conversing  in  French,  Spanish,  English,  and  Ger 
man.    His  style  of  speaking  is  exceedingly  fascinating.     Some 
eighteen  years  ago  I  was  present  at  an  oratorical  combat  be 
tween  him  and  Jefferson  Davis  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  where  Presi 
dent  Pierce  halted  on  his  way  to  the  opening  of  the  Crystal 
Palace  at  New  York.     They  were  well  matched.     Davis  had 
the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  graceful  of  the  Southern 
debaters,  but  he  found  more  than  an  equal  in  the  Massachusetts 
dialectician.    As  a  newspaper  writer  he  is  unsurpassed.    While 
I  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  National  Democratic  organ  dur 
ing  Pierce's  Administration,  Attorney-General  Gushing,  although 
deeply  immersed  in  the  business  of  his  Department,  hardly  let  a 
day  pass  without  sending  me  an  editorial  on  some  subject,  and 
he  frequently  aided  me  on  the  Washington  Chronicle     He  was 
at  home  on  finance,  on  law,  and  especially  on  foreign  questions. 
In  society  he  is  delightful.     Excelling  in  conversation,  his  rem 
iniscences  are  original  and  graphic.     It  is  very  interesting  to 
sit  by  and  hear  him  talk  of  the  characters  of  the  past  without 
hatred  or  prejudice.     A  man  of  large  wealth,  inherited  and  self- 
earned,  a  widower  without  children,  fond  of  labor,  of  matchless 
excellence  as  a  practitioner  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  he  is  also  a  great  student— devouring  every  new  book  as 
it  comes  out,  novels  inclusive,  and  remembering  every  thing  he 
reads.     His  health  is  good,  his  activity  remarkable,  his  habits 
temperate.    Invited  every  where  in  Washington,  he  is  the  orna 
ment  of  every  circle,  and  it  is  not  going  too  far  to  say  that, 
gracious,  polite,  and  agreeable  as  all  educated  Englishmen  are— 
especially  those  reared  in  high  life  — among  his  associates  in 
the  Geneva  mission  he  will  be  one  of  the  most  popular.     I 
could  run  this  notice  of  Caleb  Gushing  into  several  columns, 
but  I  will  close  my  hasty  tribute  to  a  remarkable  man  with  an 
extract  from  one  of  his  speeches  in  1836,  while  he  was  a  Whig 


230  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  as  a  specimen  of  his 
style.  In  all  that  has  been  written  against  the  enemies  of  the 
Union,  nothing  finer  can  be  found.  I  commend  it  to  the  spe 
cial  consideration  of  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  : 

"I  pray  to  God,  if  in  the  decree  of  his  Providence  he  have 
any  mercy  in  store  for  me,  not  to  suffer  me  to  behold  the  hour 
of  its  dissolution;  its  glory  extinct;  the  banner  of  its  pride  rent 
and  trampled  in  the  dust;  its  nationality  a  moral  of  history;  its 
grandeur  a  lustrous  vision  of  the  morning  slumber  vanished ; 
its  liberty  a  disembodied  spirit,  brooding  like  the  genius  of  the 
Past  amid  the  prostrate  monuments  of  its  old  magnificence. 
To  him  that  shall  compass  or  plot  the  dissolution  of  this  Union, 
I  would  apply  language  resembling  what  I  remember  to  have 
seen  of  an  old  anathema  :  Wherever  fire  burns  or  water  runs; 
wherever  ship  floats  or  land  is  tilled;  wherever  the  skies  vault 
themselves  or  the  lark  carols  to  the  dawn,  or  sun  shines  or  earth 
greens  in  his  ray;  wherever  God  is  worshiped  in  temples  or 
heard  in  thunder;  wherever  man  is  honored  or  woman  loved — 
there,  from  thenceforth  and  forever,  shall  there  be  to  him  no 
part  or  lot  in  the  honor  of  man  or  the  love  of  woman.  Ixion's 
revolving  wheel,  the  overmantling  cup  at  which  Tantalus  may 
not  slake  his  unquenchable  thirst;  the  insatiate  vulture  gnaw 
ing  at  the  immortal  heart  of  Prometheus;  the  rebel  giants 
writhing  in  the  volcanic  fires  of  JEtua. — are  but  faint  types  of 
his  doom." 

[December  17, 1871.] 


CHRISTMAS  is  one  of  the  holidays  when  childhood  joyously 
looks  forward,  and  manhood  solemnly  looks  back.  The  one 
lives  in  anticipation  of  happy  years  to  come — the  other  lives 


WASHINGTON    IN    1839.  23! 

over  the  years  that  have  gone.  In  this,  the  fiftieth  number  of 
these  anecdotes,  which,  when  commenced,  I  did  not  suppose 
would  extend  to  twenty,  I  am  reminded  of  a  season  every  where 
celebrated  by  the  Christian  world,  and  I  quietly  turn  over  the 
leaves  of  memory  to  see  if  I  can  not  restore  a  few  of  the  events 
that  mark  this  time  in  former  years.  My  first  visit  to  Wash 
ington  was  in  the  holidays  of  1839,  thirty-two  years  ago,  when 
Martin  Van  Buren  was  President,  Richard  M.  Johnson  Vice- 
President,  John  Forsyth  Secretary  of  State,  Levi  Woodbury 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Joel  R.  Poinset  Secretary  of  War, 
James  K.  Paulding  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  John  M.  Niles  Post 
master-General,  Felix  Grundy  Attorney-General ;  when  Henry 
Clay,  Daniel  Webster,  James  Buchanan,  Silas  Wright,  John  C. 
Calhoun,  Robert  J.  Walker,  Samuel  L.  Southard,  and  William 
C.  Preston  were  Senators  in  Congress ;  when  James  K.  Polk 
was  Speaker  of  the  House,  William  R.  King  President /r0  tern- 
pore  of  the  Senate,  and  Roger  B.  Taney  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  Not  one  of  these  names  now  figures  on  the 
roll  of  living  men.  Washington  was  then  little  more  than  a 
straggling  village,  fulfilling  painfully  the  idea  of  a  city  of  dreary 
distances.  The  avenues  were  poorly  paved,  and  the  streets  al 
most  impassible  and  miserably  lighted  at  night.  The  leading 
hotel  was  Gadsby's — a  vast  barn  or  caravanserai;  the  chief 
amusements  gambling-houses  and  a  poor  theatre;  and  no  pub 
lic  halls  with  the  exception  of  Carusi's.  The  only  creditable 
buildings  were  the  Capitol,  the  President's  House,  and  the  De 
partments.  When  I  was  here  first  the  snow  lay  deep  upon  the 
ground,  the  cold  was  intense ;  sleighs  were  the  ordinary  con 
veyances,  and  Senators  and  members  were  generally  huddled 
into  ordinary  boarding-houses,  in  which  a  sort  of  gipsy  life  was 
led,  only  tolerable  to  those  who  had  fortunes  of  their  own.  It 
was  a  cheerless  city,  simply  endurable  by  political  and  public 
receptions.  Society  was  pleasant  enough  for  those  who  had 
time  to  stay,  but  a  casual  visitor  like  myself  had  to  be  content 


232  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

with  a  seat  in  the  gallery  of  Congress,  a  presentation  to  the 
President  among  a  mob,  or  a  loiter  in  the  East  Room.  Twenty 
years  made  comparatively  little  change  in  the  character  of  the 
city.  Old  men  died  and  new  men  rose.  One  set  of  giants 
was  succeeded  by  another.  Modern  improvements  came  in 
slowly,  for  slavery  was  spread  like  a  shroud  over  the  whole  dis 
trict.  Population  grew  apace,  but  enterprise  was  stagnant.  The 
newspapers  were  didactic  and  dull.  Gales  &  Seaton  still  qui 
etly  vegetated  in  their  genteel  Intelligencer,  its  prestige  gone, 
and  they  struggled  vainly  against  the  huge  and  ponderous  is 
sues  then  projecting  their  dark  proportions  upon  the  scene. 
James  Buchanan  was  President,  trying  with  feeble  force  to  quell 
the  storm  he  aided  to  raise,  while  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Charles 
Sumner,  John  J.  Crittenden,  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  Wm.  H.  Seward,  John  C.  Breckinridge,  Robert  Toombs, 
John  Slidell,  and  Andrew  Johnson  were  leading  different  divi 
sions  of  men — each  contending  for  his  own  theories,  and  all 
irresistibly  floating  into  that  great  conflict  which  abolished  slav 
ery,  purified  the  Constitution,  redeemed  the  whole  government, 
and,  for  the  first  time  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  es 
tablished  and  fortified  a  consolidated  nation.  Then  the  strong, 
warm  blood  began  to  circulate  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Still  the  progress  was  slow.  The  debris  of  the  battle  had  to  be 
removed.  The  local  municipality  had  to  be  changed.  Free 
labor  had  to  be  organized  and  rewarded.  The  experiment  of 
the  ballot  had.  to  be  tried.  New  men,  when  they  came  in  to 
push  old  incapables  from  their  stools,  had  to  be  accustomed  to 
the  demands  and  the  progress  of  the  times.  Summoned  to  the 
helm  of  a  Washington  Republican  daily  in  1862, 1  gladly  echoed 
the  popular  cry  for  improvement.  Still  years  passed  before 
there  was  any  substantial  response.  It  was  only  when  General 
Grant  succeeded  Andrew  Johnson  that  men  were  found  to  un 
dertake  responsibilities  and  bear  misrepresentations,  and  place 
Washington  City  on  the  high  plane  gf  vigorous  competition 


WASHINGTON    IN    187 1.  233 

with  its  sisters.     A  few  days  since,  after  an  absence  of  several 
months,  I  returned,  to  realize  the  vast  difference  between  the 
Washington  of  1839  and  the  Washington  of  1871.    During  these 
few  months  a  magical  transformation  has  been  wrought.     The 
desolation,  decay,  and  retrogression  of  thirty-two  years  have 
been  succeeded  by  a  diversified  and  miraculous  development. 
The  inertness  of  the  past  is  put  to  shame  by  the  activity  of  the 
present.     Youth  has    superseded  age,  enterprise   enervation. 
Ten  years  ago  its  churches  were  hospitals,  its  parks  camping- 
grounds,  many  of  its  public  places  barracks  or  prisons.     Its 
avenues  and  streets  trembled  under  the  march  of  embattled 
thousands,  and  were  torn  and  lacerated  by  long  trains  of  artil 
lery  and  huge  processions  of  army  wagons.     Nothing  main 
tained  its  character  but  the  marble  Capitol,  and  that,  as  if  to 
prefigure  the  new  era,  extended  its  wings  in  all  the  wonders  of 
its  classic  beauty  amid  the  shock  of  conflict  and  of  death.    And 
now,  on  the  eve  of  that  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Him  whose 

"  Blessed  feet 

Which  nineteen  hundred  years  ago 
Were  nailed  for  our  advantage  on  the  bitter  cross," 

the  visitor,  whether  American  or  foreigner,  stands  in  the  midst 
of  something  more  than  a  material  metamorphosis.     It  was  said 
of  one  of  the  Roman  emperors  that  he  found  Rome  brick  and 
left  it  marble.     Not  less  true  is  the  eulogy  that  the  Republicans 
found  Washington  in  chains  and  made  it  free.     They  found  it 
a  miserable  mockery  and  converted  it  into  a  magnificent  me 
tropolis.     My  companions,  most  of  whom  had  not  seen  Wash 
ington  for  years,  and  easily  recalled  its  former  wretchedness, 
stood  in  amazement  in  the  midst  of  the  trophies  of  its  present 
splendor.     After  riding  along  Pennsylvania  Avenue  and  observ 
ing  the  new  residences  going  up  in  every  quarter,  and  the  broad 
streets  laid  with  enduring  composite,  we  stopped  on  the  noble 
walk  before  the  north  front  of  the  Treasury  Department  and 
stood  opposite  the  Freedmen's  Savings  Bank.     Its  history  will 


234  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

form  a  striking  chapter  in  the  annals  of  these  times.  On  the 
east  corner  of  the  same  block  I  pointed  out  the  famous  bank 
ing-house  of  Corcoran  &  Riggs — now  managed,  I  believe,  by 
Mr.  George  W.  Riggs.  The  contrast  between  these  two  edifices 
is  a  contrast  between  two  ideas,  and  suggests  a  moral  better 
than  an  argument.  Let  us  take  two  living  men— men  whose 
names  are  immediately  associated  with  these  institutions — W. 
W.  Corcoran,  the  former  head  of  the  little  old  banking-house  at 
the  corner,  and  William  J.  Wilson,  cashier  of  the  new  savings 
bank — the  one  white  and  the  other  colored,  both  natives  of  the 
United  States,  and  both  sympathizers  with  the  South  in  the  re 
bellion — Corcoran  with  the  Confederates  and  Wilson  with  the 
slaves.  It  can  be  no  offense  to  the  white  man  to  say  that,  like 
his  colored  brother,  he  was  of  humble  origin,  and  it  is  equally 
true  that  while  he  flourished  under  our  institutions,  William  J. 
Wilson  was  oppressed  and  degraded.  The  white  man  grew  in 
riches  and  in  graces  with  his  years.  Under  former  Adminis 
trations,  before  the  Sub-Treasury,  he  was  the  principal  deposi 
tary  of  the  national  funds,  and  to  this  day  his  name  is  a  letter 
of  credit  in  all  financial  circles.  Belonging  to  the  age  that  is 
fast  passing  away,  he  does  not  forget  that  most  of  his  wealth 
is  the  result  of  the  confidence  of  his  Government ;  and  in  the 
rapid  growth  of  Washington,  although  he  himself  has  resisted 
many  of  the  recent  efforts  in  that  direction,  there  are  no  more 
beautiful  objects  than  his  noble  Art  Gallery  and  the  Louisa 
Home  for  Indigent  Ladies.  The  black  man  had  none  of  these 
chances.  When  Congress,  early  in  1865,  passed  a  charter  of 
incorporation  for  the  Freedmen's  Savings  Bank,  William  J.  Wil 
son,  the  present  indomitable  cashier,  was  teaching  school  on 
Twelfth  Street,  near  R,  in  Washington  City,  without  remunera 
tion.  The  trustees  called  upon  him  to  make  the  bank  known 
to  the  colored  people  of  America,  and  he  undertook  the  work. 
His  first  office  was  a  rented  room  in  a  small  brick  house  in  G 
Street,  where  he  remained  for  a  few  months  stemming  the  tide 


FREEDMEN'S  SAVINGS  BANK.  235 

of  bigotry  against  his  race,  and  untiring  in  teaching  them  the 
necessity  of  hoarding  their  surplus  wages  in  some  institution 
that  would  keep  them  safely  and  profitably.  A  freedman,  in 
1866,  told  Wilson  that  his  father's  box  had  been  broken  into 
and  two  hundred  dollars  stolen,  but  that  the  old  man  had  still 
twenty-four  dollars  left,  and  this  was  the  first  investment,  under 
Wilson's  advice,  in  the  Freedmen's  Savings  Bank.  It  was  the 
seed  from  which  has  grown  what  is  already  a  gigantic  and  must 
become  an  overwhelming  corporation.  Other  deposits  followed 
in  rapid  succession,  and  real  estate  was  purchased  at  the  cor 
ner  of  Nineteenth  and  I  Streets  in  Washington.  The  opera 
tions  of  the  concern  became  too  large  in  a  short  time,  and  it 
was  finally  moved  to  the  northwest  corner  of  Pennsylvania  Av 
enue  and  Nineteenth  Street.  During  this  period  colored  sol 
diers  began  to  deposit  something  of  their  pay,  and  those  who 
were  wise  enough  to  do  so  now  reap  the  benefit  of  their  wisdom. 
In  the  winter  of  1867  the  bank  was  moved  to  Seventh  Street, 
between  E  and  F,  where  it  remained  for  fourteen  months,  until 
finally  it  was  located  in  the  new  building  opposite  the  Treasury 
Department,  to  which  I  have  referred.  There  are  few  banking- 
houses  in  America  equal  to  it,  and  yet,  large,  commodious,  and 
beautiful  as  it  is,  it  is  to  be  still  further  extended,  inasmuch  as 
the  company  has  purchased  the  whole  of  the  western  portion 
of  the  lot,  and  are  even  now  ambitious  to  buy  out  Corcoran  & 
Riggs,  so  that  the  entire  square  may  be  given  up  to  them.  It 
may  be  called  a  tree  of  many  branches,  extending  through  the 
South  and  the  Southwest.  They  have  fine  buildings,  with  ca 
pable  officers  engaged  in  the  good  work  of  collecting  the  sav 
ings  of  the  freedmen,  and  so  hoarding  and  investing  them  as 
that  in  the  course  of  time  the  institution  will  be  second  to  none 
on  the  continent.  The  Washington  depositors  are  from  one 
hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  a  day,  and  the  daily  amount 
of  business  varies  from  six  to  twenty  thousand  dollars.  In  four 
weeks  these  deposits  have  exceeded  the  drafts  by  sixty  thousand 


236  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

dollars.  No  discounts  are  made  for  the  public  or  for  any  of 
the  officers  of  the  bank,  and  advances  are  made  only  on  secu 
rity  of  real  estate.  It  is  unnecessary  to  give  further  details. 
The  concern  itself  stands  first  among  financial  institutions.  Its 
future  may  be  judged  from  its  present.  With  ordinary  care 
and  integrity  it  must  distance  all  competitors,  inasmuch  as  it 
has  secured  the  confidence  of  the  great  race  which,  united  for 
one  object,  can  accomplish  almost  any  thing.  Imagine  these 
millions  of  colored  men,  women,  and  children,  all  resolved  upon 
hoarding  their  earnings  in  one  banking  institution,  and  then 
contrast  this  unity  of  action  with  the  savings  banks  in  other 
cities  and  States  which  have  grown  rich  because  they  have  been 
preferred  by  only  a  portion  of  the  whites,  and  you  have  the  sto 
ry  in  a  nutshell.  The  architect  of  all  this  prosperity  is  William 
J.  Wilson,  the  cashier,  an  earnest,  hard-headed,  true-hearted 
man,  with  the  intelligence,  vigor,  and  the  directness  of  a  John 
W.  Garrett  or  a  George  Law,  and  the  conviction  of  an  Oliver 
Cromwell.  As  a  Pennsylvanian  I  am  proud  to  record  the  fact 
that  perhaps  the  most  efficient  and  persevering  of  the  coadju 
tors  of  Mr.  Wilson  in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  this 
magnificent  institution  is  Colonel  D.  L.  Eaton,  of  Pittsburgh. 
But  Wilson  is  the  W.  W.  Corcoran  of  the  colored  men  of  the 
South,  successfully  emerging  from  a  deadlier  struggle,  fighting 
against  sterner  obstacles,  and  perhaps  surer  of  a  grander  future. 
Who  knows  but  that  in  the  years  that  lie  beyond,  a  reputation 
as  pure,  a  credit  as  high,  may  await  the  posterity  of  the  colored 
banker  as  that  which  has  a  thousand  times  rewarded  the  white 
capitalist  ?  I  said  at  the  beginning  that  Christmas  is  that  holi 
day  on  which  childhood  looks  joyously  forward,  and  when  man 
hood  solemnly  looks  backward ;  and,  as  I  conclude  this  strik 
ing  contrast,  may  not  both  child  and  man  be  instructed  by  its 
lessons,  and  alike  anticipate  the  glorious  destiny  of  our  coun 
try? 

[December  24,  1871.] 


NEW-YEAR'S  CALLS-  237 


LI. 

NEW-YEAR'S  calls  had  their  origin  in  Continental  Europe. 
The  custom  was  brought  to  New  York  by  the  Dutch  and  Hu 
guenots  as  one  of  their  peculiar  institutions.  It  has  never  been 
naturalized,  until  recently,  in  towns  of  a  more  purely  English 
origin  or  population.  Christmas  is  the  favorite  holiday  all 
through  the  Middle  States,  especially  in  districts  originally  set 
tled  by  the  English  and  the  Germans.  New-year's  receptions 
have  latterly  become  universally  fashionable,  but  the  cities  of 
New  York  and  Washington  are  more  particularly  abandoned 
to  this  growing  and  pleasant  custom.  On  Friday,  the  first  of 
January,  1790,  the  Government  of  the  young  United  States,  then 
located  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  first  President,  George 
Washington,  was  waited  upon  by  the  principal  gentlemen  of  the 
metropolis.  Mrs.  Washington  held  her  levee  as  on  other  Fri 
day  evenings,  but  this  special  reception  was  one  of  unusual  ele 
gance.  The  weather  was  almost  as  gentle  as  May,  and  the  full 
moon  shone  brightly  into  the  chambers  of  the  President's  state 
ly  mansion.  It  was  not  the  general  custom  for  visitors  to  the 
President  to  sit,  but  on  this  particular  evening,  as  I  learn  from 
a  diary  of  the  period,  there  were  chairs  in  the  rooms  where  Mrs. 
AVashington  met  her  friends,  and.  after  they  were  seated,  tea  and 
coffee  and  plum  and  plain  cake  were  served.  Mrs.  Washing 
ton  afterward  remarked  that  none  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
day  so  pleased  "  the  General "  (by  which  title  she  always  desig 
nated  her  husband,  differing  in  that  respect  from  Mrs.  Grant, 
who  nearly  always  speaks  of  our  present  President  as  "Mr. 
Grant")  as  the  friendly  greeting  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  call 
ed  upon  him.  Washington  asked  if  New-year's  visiting  had  al 
ways  been  kept  up  in  New  York,  and  when  he  was  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  he  paused  a  moment  and  said,  "  The  highly  fa 
vored  situation  of  New  York  will  in  the  progress  of  years  at- 


238  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

tract  numerous  emigrants,  who  will  gradually  change  its  cus 
toms  and  manners ;  but,  whatever  changes  take  place,  never 
forget  the  cordial  and  cheerful  observance  of  New-year's-day." 
Mrs.  Washington  stood  by  his  side  as  the  visitors  arrived  and 
were  presented,  and  when  the  clock  in  the  hall  struck  nine  she 
advanced  and  said,  with  a  pleasant  smile,  "  The  General  always 
retires  at  nine,  and  I  usually  precede  him,"  upon  which  the 
company  made  their  parting  salutations,  and  said  good-night. 
This  was  the  second  session  of  the  First  American  Congress, 
and  the  last  ever  held  in  New  York.  It  was  closed  on  the  i2th 
of  August,  1790,  and  on  the  3oth  the  President  set  out  for  Vir 
ginia. 

The  population  of  Boston  at  this  time  was  about  eighteen 
thousand,  that  of  New  York  thirty-three  thousand,  of  whom 
twenty-three  hundred  were  slaves,  and  that  of  Philadelphia  forty- 
two  thousand,  of  whom  less  than  three  hundred  were  slaves. 
One  of  the  great  questions  of  the  day  was  in  which  of  the  cities 
or  sections  the  capital  of  the  nation  should  be  fixed.  It  is 
amusing  to  note  the  efforts  made  to  retain  it  in  New  York 
and  to  prevent  its  transfer  to  Philadelphia,  and  to  compare 
them  with  the  late  endeavor  of  the  gentle  Mr.  Reavis,  of  St. 
Louis,  and  his  very  few  associates,  against  keeping  the  seat  of 
the  National  Government  where  it  is  to-day.  The  first  Con 
gress  had  just  closed  at  New  York,  and  Washington  prepared, 
in  accordance  with  the  decision  of  that  body,  to  fix  his  new  res 
idence  at  Philadelphia,  where  the  Executive,  Legislative,  and 
Judicial  Departments  were  to  be  retained  until  the  close  of  the 
century.  It  was  known  that  Washington  and  the  Southern 
men  generally  were  anxious  that  the  political  centre  of  the  Re 
public  should  be  on  the  River  Potomac,  while  Pennsylvania 
wished  it  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  and  New  York  vainly 
tried  to  keep  it  on  the  Hudson.  Dr.  Rush,  in  a  letter  to  Gen 
eral  Muhlenberg,  said,  "I  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  Congress 
leaving  New  York.  It  is  a  sink  of  political  vice.  Do  as  you 


THE   SEAT   OF   GOVERNMENT.  239 

please,  but  tear  Congress  away  from  New  York  in  any  way. 
Do  not  rise  without  effecting  this  business."  But  the  New- 
Yorkers  did  not  hesitate  to  retort  upon  Philadelphia.  Captain 
Freneau,  afterward  Mr.  Jefferson's  great  editorial  advocate,  and 
the  assailant  of  General  Washington  in  the  Philadelphia  Na 
tional  Gazette,  wrote  some  verses,  in  which  he  made  a  Philadel 
phia  house-maid,  in  a  letter  to  her  friend  in  New  York,  speak 
of  Philadelphia  as  follows : 

"  Six  weeks  my  dear  mistress  has  been  in  a  fret, 
And  nothing  but  Congress  will  do  for  her  yet. 
She  says  they  must  come,  or  her  senses  she'll  lose ; 
From  morning  to  night  she  is  reading  the  news, 
And  loves  the  dear  fellows  that  vote  for  our  town, 
Since  no  one  can  relish  New  York  but  a  clown. 

"  She  tells  us  as  how  she  has  read  in  her  books 
That  God  gives  the  meat  but  the  devil  the  cooks ; 
And  Grumbleton  told  us,  who  often  shoots  flying, 
That  fish  you  have  plenty,  but  spoil  them  in  frying ; 
That  your  streets  are  as  crooked  as  crooked  can  be, 
Right  forward  three  perches  he  never  could  see ; 
That  his  view  was  cut  short  with  a  house  or  a  shop 
That  stood  in  his  way  and  obliged  him  to  stop." 

To  which  the  New  York  maid  responds  to  her  friend  : 

"  Well,  Nannie,  I'm  sorry  to  find,  since  you  writ  us, 
That  Congress  at  last  has  determined  to  quit  us ; 
You  now  may  begin  with  your  dish-cloths  and  brooms, 
To  be  scouring  your  knockers  and  scrubbing  your  rooms* 

"  As  for  us,  my  dear  Nannie,  we're  much  in  a  pet, 
And  hundreds  of  houses  will  be  "  To  be  Let ;" 
Our  streets,  that  were  just  in  a  way  to  look  clever, 
Will  now  be  neglected  and  nasty  as  ever. 
This  Congress  unsettled's  a  very  sad  thing, 
Seven  years,  my  dear  Nannie,  they've  been  on  the  wing. 
My  master  would  rather  saw  timber  or  dig, 
Than  to  have  it  removed  to  Conogocheague, 
Where  the  houses  and  kitchens  are  yet  to  framed, 
The  trees  to  be  felled,  and  the  streets  to  be  named." 


240  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Then  came  the  hurry  and  excitement  of  moving  the  different 
Departments  of  the  Government,  complaints  on  the  part  of 
members  of  Congress  of  high  prices  of  rents  and  provisions, 
and  all  the  numerous  intrigues  incidental  to  such  a  transition. 
The  appearance  of  Philadelphia  was  monotonous  enough,  though 
Christ  Church  had  quite  a  cathedral  air,  and  the  Dutch  church 
was  magnificent.  But  the  city,  plain  and  unpretending,  was 
chiefly  attractive  to  visitors  by  its  markets,  which  were  declared 
to  be  the  best  in  the  world.  The  Pennsylvania  politicians,  in 
cluding  such  men  as  Robert  Morris,  felt  that  if  they  could  make 
Congress,  the  President,  and  the  Departments  comfortable  in 
Philadelphia,  the  project  of  removing  to  the  South  would  be 
abandoned,  and  therefore  some  amusing  expedients  were  re 
sorted  to,  especially  to  propitiate  the  President,  but  without 
effect.  He  was  exceedingly  careful  about  committing  himself, 
would  receive  no  favors  of  any  kind,  and  scrupulously  paid  for 
every  thing.  The  house  of  Mr.  Robert  Morris  had  been  taken 
by  the  corporation  for  his  residence.  "  It  is,"  said  Washington 
to  his  private  secretary,  Mr.  Lear,  "  the  best  they  could  get,  and 
is,  I  believe,  the  best  single  house  in  the  city."  A  larger  house 
was  set  apart  for  him  on  Ninth  Street,  on  the  grounds  now  cov 
ered  by  the  Pennsylvania  University,  which  he  refused  to  accept. 

The  house  he  occupied  while  he  was  President  was  a  large 
double  house,  on  the  south  side  of  High  Street,  near  Fifth,  was 
three  stories,  thirty-two  feet  wide,  four  windows  in  the  second 
as  well  as  in  the  third  story,  and  three  in  the  first,  approached 
by  three  heavy  steps  of  gray  stone  to  a  single  door.  It  was 
situated  in  a  vacant  lot,  used  as  a  garden,  and  surrounded  with 
trees  and  shrubbery. 

On  Saturday,  the  28th  of  November,  1790,  the  President  and 
Mrs.  Washington  arrived  from  Mount  Vernon,  and  took  posses 
sion  of  this  their  new  mansion,  and  on  Christmas-day,  the  25th 
of  December,  they  gave  their  first  formal  levee.  The  President 
was  surrounded  by  members  of  his  Cabinet  or  other  distinguished 


WASHINGTON    IN    PHILADELPHIA.  24! 

men,  his  hair  powdered  and  gathered  behind  in  a  silk  bag,  coat 
and  breeches  of  plain  black  silk  velvet,  white  or  pearl-colored 
vest,  yellow  gloves,  a  cocked  hat  in  his  hand,  silver  knee  and 
shoe  buckles,  and  a  long  sword,  with  a  finely  wrought  and  glit 
tering  steel  hilt,  the  coat  worn  over  it  and  its  scabbard  of  pol 
ished  white  leather.  On  these  occasions  he  never  shook  hands 
even  with  his  most  intimate  friends.  Every  name  was  distinctly 
announced,  and  he  rarely  forgot  it  after  the  owner  had  been 
introduced.  At  Mrs.  Washington's  receptions  the  President 
appeared  as  a  private  gentleman,  without  hat  or  sword,  con 
versing  without  restraint,  generally  with  the  ladies,  who  had  few 
other  opportunities  of  meeting  him. 

The  winter  of  1790-91,  including  the  New-year's  receptions 
and  levees,  was  unusually  brilliant  in  Philadelphia.  "  I  should 
spend  a  very  dissipated  winter,"  writes  Mrs.  John  Adams,  "  if 
I  were  to  accept  one  half  the  invitations  I  receive."  Another 
correspondent  wrote  as  follows :  "  I  never  saw  any  thing  like  the 
frenzy  which  has  seized  upon  the  inhabitants  here.  They  have 
been  half  mad  ever  since  this  city  became  the  seat  of  Govern 
ment,  and  there  is  no  limit  to  their  prodigality,  and,  Ellsworth 
might  say,  profligacy.  The  probability  is  that  some  families 
will  find  they  can  not  support  their  dinners,  suppers,  and  losses 
at  loo  a  great  while  ;  but  generally,  I  believe,  the  sharp  citi 
zens  manage  to  make  the  temporary  residents  pay  the  bills, 
one  way  or  another.  They  have  given  a  good  many  delightful 
parties,  and  I  have  been  at  Chew's,  McKean's,  Clymer's,  Dal- 
las's,  Bingham's,  and  a  dozen  other  houses  lately.  Among  your 
more  particular  friends  there  is  more  quiet  and  comfort,  and  it 
is  not  impossible  that  the  most  truly  respectable  people  are 
least  heard  of." 

Few  will  think  of  the  New-year  of  1790-91  as  they  greet 
to-morrow ;  and  yet,  though  eighty  years  have  gone,  it  is  not 
difficult,  after  a  little  reading  and  reflection,  to  recall  it.  "  The 
belle  of  the  period  "  was  Anne  Willing,  afterward  Mrs.  Willianf 

L 


242  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

Bingham.  She  was  the  princess  of  society  before  whom  Jeffer 
son,  Hamilton,  Jay,  and  John  Adams  gladly  bowed.  Of  rare 
personal  attractions,  fine  intelligence,  and  unlimited  resources, 
supplied  by  husband  and  father,  she  dazzled  society  in  both 
continents.  Dying  at  thirty-seven,  she  has  left  a  deathless  rep 
utation  for  loveliness  of  person  and  of  mind.  A  chief  favorite 
of  Washington,  who  saw  her  alike  at  her  town  and  country  home 
— the  latter  the  famous  Lansdowne  on  the  Schuylkill,  the  glory 
of  the  great  Fairmount  Park — she  was  the  star  of  Mrs.  Wash 
ington's  levees.  It  is  not  difficult  to  picture  her  now,  the  queen 
of  the  ladies  of  her  own  age  and  sphere,  and  the  admired  of  the 
great  leaders  of  the  time.  There  will  be  lovely  women  and 
eminent  men  to-morrow  at  the  White  House  in  Washington, 
and  in  the  many  great  houses  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Bos 
ton,  Cincinnati,  New  Orleans,  Charleston,  Baltimore,  and  Rich 
mond  ;  but  will  the  women  be  more  attractive  than  those  who 
attended  the  first  levee  of  President  Washington  in  Philadel 
phia  in  1790-91?  There  were  Mrs.  Vice-President  John  Ad 
ams,  the  dazzling  Mrs.  Bingham  and  her  beautiful  sisters,  the 
Misses  Allen,  the  Misses  Chew,  and  a  constellation  of  others. 
The  eldest  of  the  Aliens  became  the  lovely  Mrs.  Greenleaf. 
Mrs.  Theodore  Sedgwick,  and  Miss  Wolcott,  of  New  England, 
added  singular  grace  to  the  scene.  Miss  Sally  McKean,  after 
ward  the  Marchioness  d'Yrujo  (wife  of  the  Spanish  Minister), 
whose  portrait,  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  is  still  in  possession  of  Pratt 
McKean,  in  Philadelphia,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  New  York : 
"  You  never  could  have  had  such  a  drawing-room  ;  it  was  brill 
iant  beyond  any  thing  you  can  imagine,  and  though  there  was 
a  great  deal  of  extravagance,  there  was  so  much  of  Philadelphia 
taste  in  every  thing  that  it  must  be  confessed  the  most  delightful 
occasion  ever  known  in  this  country."  In  fact,  all  the  great 
women  of  this  country,  North  and  South,  and  of  the  foreign 
legations,  figured  in  the  decade  between  1790  and  1800  in  these 
historical  assemblies. 


WASHINGTON'S  RECEPTIONS.  243 

At  these  Washington  receptions  and  levees  also  might  be 
found  the  public  men  of  the  Revolutionary  era — the  leaders  in 
the  Senate  and. in  society,  beginning  with  Washington's  Cabi 
net,  which  included  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  Knox,  Timothy  Pick 
ering,  John  Marshall,  Oliver  Wolcott,  and  Edmund  Randolph ; 
and  his  immediate  personal  friends,  at  the  head  of  whom  stood 
John  Jay,  Governor  Clinton,  and  Robert  Morris.  There,  too, 
might  have  been  seen  Colonel  Trumbull,  the  eminent  historical 
painter.  The  Philadelphia  celebrities  living  at  that  time  were 
Dominie  Proud,  the  historian  of  Pennsylvania,  tall,  thin,  with  a 
nose  like  a  hook,  and  overhanging  brows,  a  striking  figure,  with 
his  ivory-headed  cane,  as  he  walked  about  among  the  new  gen 
eration  ;  Benjamin  Chew,  at  seventy  years  preserving  the  dis 
tinguished  air  and  high-bred  courtesy  which  forty  years  before 
had  arrested  the  admiration  of  Washington  •  Edward  Shippen, 
in  his  sixty-second  year — just  called  to  a  position  on  the  bench 
— the  ancestor  of  his  esteemed  and  universally  beloved  name 
sake  now  living  in  Philadelphia,  and  exercising  a  salutary  and 
generous  influence ;  Dr.  Rush,  though  not  in  the  Washington 
circle,  still  a  great  favorite  with  the  people ;  the  facetious  Judge 
Peters,  in  his  fiftieth  year,  with  his  good  nature  and  unfailing 
wit ;  the  genial  and  humorous  Francis  Hopkinson,  author  of 
"  The  Battle  of  the  Kegs ; "  the  sage  Rittenhouse,  in  his  sixtieth 
year ;  William  Bartram,  at  his  famous  botanic  garden ;  John 
Fitch,  the  inventor  of  the  steam-boat ;  the  eminent  Bishop 
White  ;  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  not  yet  twenty-one  years  old, 
with  Hugh  H.  Breckinridge,  Peter  S.  Duponceau,  Dr.  Caspar 
Wistar,  and  many  more  unforgotten  in  our  annals,  though  long 
since  gathered  to  their  fathers. 

[December  31, 1871.] 


244  ANECDOTES  OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 


LII. 

WHO  will  ever  forget  Friday,  the  22d  of  February,  1861,  when 
Abraham  Lincoln  rode  down  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia, 
from  the  Continental  Hotel,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  Amer 
ican  flag  in  front  of  Independence  Hall?  The  spot,  newly 
sanctified  by  that  patriotic  deed,  has  recently  been  additionally 
hallowed  by  an  exquisite  marble  life-size  statue  of  Washington, 
executed  by  that  fine  artist,  Bailly,  and  paid  for  by  the  contri 
butions  of  the  public-school  children  of  the  First  School  Dis 
trict  of  Pennsylvania. 

All  his  speeches  on  his  way  to  AVashington  seemed  to  be 
pervaded  by  consciousness  of  his  danger  and  determination  to 
do  his  duty.  He  was  greeted  by  affectionate  crowds  at  every 
station,  but  as  he  approached  Philadelphia  he  became  more  se 
rious  and  resolved.  In  his  reply  to  Mayor  Henry,  of  that  city, 
on  the  2ist  of  February,  he  said:  "You  have  expressed  the 
wish,  in  which  I  join,  that  it  were  convenient  for  me  to  remain 
long  enough  to  consult,  or  rather  to  listen  to,  those  breathings 
arising  within  the  consecrated  walls  in  which  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and,  I  will  add,  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  were  originally  framed  and  adopted.  All  my  polit 
ical  warfare  has  been  in  favor  of  those  teachings.  May  my 
right  hand  forget  its  cunning  and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of 
my  mouth  if  ever  I  prove  false  to  those  teachings" 

The  next  day  he  was  escorted  to  Independence  Hall.  It 
was  an  early  winter  morning,  and  as  the  President  had  to  visit 
the  Legislature  at  Harrisburg  in  the  afternoon,  in  a  special 
train  that  was  to  leave  at  8:30,  what  was  to  be  done  had  to  be 
done  quickly.  In  front  of  the  ancient  Temple  of  Liberty  a  plat 
form  was  erected,  from  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  raise  the  na 
tional  flag  with  its  thirty-four  stars.  As  he  approached  the 
sacrecl  spot,  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  four  white  horses,  escorted 


LINCOLN    IN    PHILADELPHIA.  245 

by  the  Scott  Legion,  with  the  flag  they  had  carried  to  victory 
in  Mexico  twelve  years  before,  the  whole  scene  was  highly  dra 
matic.  The  whole  population  was  in  the  streets,  and  their  ex 
citement  and  enthusiasm  baffled  description.  It  recalled  Shakes 
peare's  picture  of  Bolingbroke's  entrance  into  London : 

"  You  would  have  thought  the  very  windows  spake, 
So  many  greedy  looks  of  young  and  old 
Through  casements  darted  their  desiring  eyes 
Upon  his  visage;  and  that  all  the  walls, 
With  painted  imagery,  had  said  at  once  : 
'  Jesu  preserve  thee  !     Welcome,  Bolingbroke  !' 
Whilst  he,  from  one  side  to  the  other  turning, 
Bareheaded,  lower  than  his  proud  steed's  neck, 
Bespake  them  thus  :  '  I  thank  you,  countrymen ;' 
And  this  still  doing,  thus  he  passed  along." 

Leaving  the  carriage  at  the  door,  he  entered,  uncovered,  the 
sacred  Hall  of  Independence.  And  there  it  was  that  he  used 
the  language  that  now  sounds  like  a  solemn  prophecy : 

"That  Declaration  of  Independence  gave  liberty,  not  alone 
to  the  people  of  this  country,  but  hope  for  the  world  for  all  fut 
ure  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  promise  that  in  our  time  the 
weights  should  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all  men,  and  that 
all  should  have  an  equal  chance.  This  is  the  sentiment  embodied 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Now,  my  friends,  can  this 
country  be  saved  upon  that  basis  ?  If  it  can,  I  will  consider 
myself  one  of  the  happiest  men  in  the  world  if  I  can  save  it. 
If  it  can  not  be  saved  upon  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful. 
But  if  this  country  can  not  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  prin 
ciple — /  was  about  to  say  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this 
spot  than  surrender  it"  And  then,  after  a  few  more  words,  he 
added  solemnly,  as  he  drew  his  tall  form  to  its  fullest  height, 
"/  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am  willing  to  live  by,  and,  in  the 
pleasure  of  Almighty  GW,  TO  DIE  BY." 

He  had  just  been  freshly  warned  of  his  peril,  and  when  he 
walked  forth  to  face  the  mighty  concourse  outside,  and  mounted 


246  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

the  platform,  "  his  tall  form  rose  Saul-like  above  the  mass." 
He  stood  elevated  and  alone  before  the  people,  and,  with  his 
overcoat  off,  grasped  the  halyards  to  draw  up  the  flag.  Then 
arose  a  shout  like  the  roar  of  many  waters.  Mr.  Lincoln's  ex 
pression  was  serene  and  confident.  Extending  his  long  arms, 
he  slowly  drew  up  the  standard,  which  had  never  before  kissed 
the  light  of  heaven  till  it  floated  over  the  Hall  of  Independence. 
Tears,  prayers,  shouts,  music,  and  cannon  followed,  and  sealed 
an  act  which  few  knew  was  only  the  beginning  of  unspeakable 
sufferings  and  sacrifices,  ending  in  his  own  martyrdom.  That 
same  afternoon,  at  Harrisburg,  he  spoke  of  his  part  in  the  morn 
ing's  drama  as  follows  : 

"  This  morning  I  was  for  the  first  time  allowed  the  privilege 
of  standing  in  Old  Independence  Hall.  Our  friends  had  pro 
vided  a  magnificent  flag  of  our  country,  and  they  had  arranged 
it  so  that  I  was  given  the  honor  of  raising  it  to  the  head  of  its 
staff,  and  when  it  went  up  I  was  pleased  that  it  went  to  its  place 
by  the  strength  of  my  own  feeble  arm.  When,  according  to  the 
arrangement,  the  cord  was  pulled,  and  it  flaunted  gloriously  to 
the  wind,  without  an  accident,  in  the  bright  glowing  sunshine 
of  the  morning,  I  could  not  help  hoping  that  there  was,  in  the 
entire  success  of  that  beautiful  ceremony,  at  least  something  of 
an  omen  of  what  is  to  come.  Nor  could  I  help  feeling  then,  as 
I  have  often  felt,  that  in  the  whole  of  that  proceeding  I  was  a 
very  humble  instrument.  I  had  not  provided  the  flag.  I  had 
not  made  the  arrangement  for  elevating  it  to  its  place.  I  had 
applied  a  very  small  portion  even  of  my  feeble  strength  in  rais 
ing  it.  In  the  whole  transaction  I  was  in  the  hands  of  the  peo 
ple  who  had  arranged  it.  And  if  I  can  have  the  same  gener 
ous  co-operation  of  the  people  of  this  nation,  I  think  the  flag  of 
our  country  may  yet  be  kept  flaunting  gloriously." 

After  the  reception  of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  State  authorities  at 
Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  preparations  were  immediately  made 
for  his  return  to  Philadelphia.  It  was  impossible  to  conceal 


SAMUEL  M.  FELTON'S  NARRATIVE.  247 

the  events  of  his  journey  to  the  capital.  Fully  advised  of  these 
events,  the  rebels  prepared  to  take  his  life  in  Baltimore.  Ac 
curate  information  of  their  intentions  had  been  received  and 
conveyed  to  him.  Supposing  that  he  would  proceed  by  the 
Northern  Central  road,  they  lay  in  wait  for  him  at  the  Calvert 
Street  de'pot  of  that  road  in  Baltimore.  To  baffle  them  he 
took  the  Pennsylvania  Central  from  Harrisburg,  and  reached 
Philadelphia  just  in  time  to  enter  the  sleeping-car  of  the  11:30 
train,  at  the  Broad  and  Prime  depot,  in  that  city,  by  which 
means  he  was  conveyed  through  Baltimore  at  night,  and  safely 
landed  in  Washington  on  the  morning  of  the  23d  of  February, 
1861.  To  prevent  the  knowledge  of  this  change  of  programme 
from  being  telegraphed  to  Baltimore,  Henry  Sanford,  Esq.,  one 
of  the  officers  of  Adams's  Express,  suggested  that  the  wires 
should  be  cut  some  distance  from  Harrisburg,  which  was  ac 
cordingly  done.  And  now  for  a  statement  not  generally  known, 
and  for  the  first  time  published  in  the  very  interesting  book  en 
titled  "  Massachusetts  during  the  War,"  prepared  by  General 
William  Schouler,  adjutant-general  under  Governors  Banks  and 
Andrew  (a  monument  of  industry  and  patriotism),  which,  not 
withstanding  its  length,  will  be  read  with  deep  interest.  This 
true  history  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  perilous  journey  to  Washington,  in 
1 86 1,  and  the  way  he  escaped  death,  have  never  been  printed 
before.  The  narrative  was  written  by  Samuel  M.  Felton,  late 
president  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Railroad  Com 
pany,  in  1862,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Sibley,  librarian  of  Harvard 
University,  but  it  was  not  completed  until  lately,  when  it  was 
sent  to  General  Schouler,  with  other  valuable  material,  by  Mr. 
Felton.  Mr.  Felton  is  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  brother 
of  the  late  president  of  Harvard  University.  He  was  born  in 
West  Newbury,  Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  July  17, 1809,  and 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  the  class  of  1834.  His  services  in  the 
cause  of  the  Union  and  good  government  are  therefore  a  part  of 
the  renown  of  that  Commonwealth.  His  narrative  is  as  follows : 


248  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

"  It  came  to  my  knowledge  in  the  early  part  of  1861,  first  by 
rumors  and  then  by  evidence  which  I  could  not  doubt,  that 
there  was  a  deep-laid  conspiracy  to  capture  Washington,  de 
stroy  all  the  avenues  leading  to  it  from  the  North,  East,  and 
West,  and  thus  prevent  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the 
Capitol  of  the  country;  and  if  this  plot  did  not  succeed,  then  to 
murder  him  while  on  his  way  to  the  capital,  and  thus  inaugurate 
a  revolution  which  should  end  in  establishing  a  Southern  Con 
federacy,  uniting  all  the  slave  States,  while  it  was  imagined  that 
the  North  would  be  divided  into  separate  cliques,  each  striving 
for  the  destruction  of  the  other.  Early  in  the  year  1861,  Miss 
Dix,  the  philanthropist,  came  into  my  office  on  a  Saturday  after 
noon.  I  had  known  her  for  some  years  as  one  engaged  in  allevi 
ating  the  sufferings  of  the  afflicted.  Her  occupation  had  brought 
her  in  contact  with  the  prominent  men  South.  In  visiting  hos 
pitals  she  had  become  familiar  with  the  structure  of  Southern 
society,  and  also  with  the  working  of  its  political  machinery. 
She  stated  that  she  had  an  important  communication  to  make 
to  me  personally ;  and,  after  closing  my  door,  I  listened  atten 
tively  to  what  she  had  to  say  for  more  than  an  hour.  She  put 
in  a  tangible  and  reliable  shape,  by  the  facts  she  related,  what 
before  I  had  heard  in  numerous  and  detached  parcels.  The 
sum  of  it  all  was  that  there  was  then  an  extensive  and  organ 
ized  conspiracy  throughout  the  South  to  seize  upon  Washing 
ton,  with  its  archives  and  records,  and  then  declare  the  South 
ern  conspirators  de  facto  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
The  whole  was  to  be  a  coup  d'etat.  At  the  same  time  they  were 
to  cut  off  all  modes  of  communication  between  Washington  and 
the  North,  East,  or  West,  and  thus  prevent  the  transportation 
of  troops  to  wrest  the  capital  from  the  hands  of  the  insurgents. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration  was  thus  to  be  prevented,  or  his  life 
was  to  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the  attempt  at  inauguration.  In  fact, 
troops -were  then  drilling  on  the  line  of  our  road,  and  the  Wash 
ington  and  Annapolis  line,  and  other  lines ;  and  they  were 


SAMUEL  M.  FELTON'S  NARRATIVE.  249 

sworn  to  obey  the  command  of  their  leaders,  and  the  leaders 
were  banded  together  to  capture  Washington.  As  soon  as  the 
interview  was  ended,  I  called  Mr.  N.  P.  Trist  into  my  office,  and 
told  him  I  wanted  him  to  go  to  Washington  that  night  and  com 
municate  these  facts  to  General  Scott.  I  also  furnished  him 
with  some  data  as  to  the  other  routes  to  Washington  that  might 
be  adopted  in  case  the  direct  route  was  cut  off.  One  was  the 
Delaware  Railroad  to  Seaford,  and  thence  up  the  Chesapeake 
and  Potomac  to  Washington,  or  to  Annapolis,  and  thence  to 
Washington;  another  to  Perryville,  and  thence  to  Annapolis 
and  Washington.  Mr.  Trist  left  that  night,  and  arrived  in  Wash 
ington  at  six  the  next  morning,  which  was  on  Sunday.  He  im 
mediately  had  an  interview  with  General  Scott,  who  told  him  he 
had  foreseen  the  trouble  that  was  coming,  and  in  October  pre 
vious  had  made  a  communication  to  the  President,  predicting 
trouble  at  the  South,  and  urging  strongly  the  garrisoning  of  all 
the  Southern  forts  and  arsenals  with  forces  sufficient  to  hold 
them,  but  that  his  advice  had  been  unheeded;  nothing  had  been 
done,  and  he  feared  nothing  would  be  done ;  that  he  was  pow 
erless,  and  that  he  feared  Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  obliged  to  be 
inaugurated  into  office  at  Philadelphia.  He  should,  however, 
do  all  he  could  to  bring  troops  to  Washington  sufficient  to  make 
it  secure ;  but  he  had  no  influence  with  the  Administration,  and 
feared  the  worst  consequences.  Thus  matters  stood  on  Mr. 
Trist's  visit  to  Washington,  and  thus  they  stood  for  some  time 
afterward.  About  this  time— a  few  days  subsequent,  however 
— a  gentleman  from  Baltimore  came  out  to  Back  River  bridge, 
about  five  miles  this  side  of  the  city,  and  told  the  bridge-keeper 
that  he  had  come  to  give  information  which  had  come  to  his 
knowledge  of  vital  importance  to  the  road,  which  he  wished 
communicated  to  me.  The  nature  of  this  communication  was 
that  a  party  was  then  organized  in  Baltimore  to  burn  our  bridges 
in  case  Mr.  Lincoln  came  over  the  road,  or  in  case  we  attempt 
ed  to  carry  troops  for  the  defense  of  Washington.  The  party 

L  2 


250  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

at  that  time  had  combustible  materials  prepared  to  pour  over 
the  bridges,  and  were  to  disguise  themselves  as  negroes,  and  be 
at  the  bridge  just  before  the  train  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  traveled 
had  arrived.  The  bridge  was  then  to  be  burned,  the  train  at 
tacked,'  and  Mr.  Lincoln  to  be  put  out  of  the  way.  This  man 
appeared  to  be  a  gentleman,  and  in  earnest,  and  honest  in  what 
he  said ;  but  he  would  not  give  his  name,  nor  allow  any  inqui 
ries  to  be  made  as  to  his  name  or  exact  abode,  as  he  said  his 
life  would  be  in  peril  were  it  known  that  he  had  given  this  in 
formation;  but,  if  we  would  not  attempt  to  find  him  out,  he 
would  continue  to  come  and  give  information.  He  came  sub 
sequently  several  times,  and  gave  items  of  information  as  to  the 
movements  of  the  conspirators;  but  I  have  never  been  able  to 
ascertain  who  he  was.  Immediately  after  the  development  of 
these  facts  I  went  to  Washington,  and  there  met  a  prominent 
and  reliable  gentleman  from  Baltimore,  who  was  well  acquainted 
with  Marshal  Kane,  then  the  Chief  of  Police.  I  was  then  anx 
ious  to  ascertain  whether  he  was  loyal  and  reliable,  and  made 
particular  inquiries  upon  both  these  points.  I  was  assured  that 
Kane  was  perfectly  reliable;  whereupon  I  made  known  some 
of  the  facts  that  had  come  to  my  knowledge  in  reference  to  the 
designs  for  the  burning  of  the  bridges,  and  requested  that  they 
should  be  laid  before  Marshal  Kane,  with  a  request  that  he 
should  detail  a  police  force  to  make  the  necessary  investiga 
tion.  Marshal  Kane  was  seen,  and  it  was  suggested  to  him 
that  there  were  reports  of  a  conspiracy  to  burn  the  bridges  and 
cut  off  Washington,  and  his  advice  was  asked  as  to  the  best 
way  of  ferreting  out  the  conspirators.  He  scouted  the  idea 
that  there  was  any  such  thing  on  foot;  said  he  had  thoroughly 
investigated  the  whole  matter,  and  there  was  not  the  slightest 
foundation  for  such  rumors.  I  then  determined  to  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  Marshal  Kane,  but  to  investigate  the  matter  in 
my  own  way,  and  at  once  sent  for  a  celebrated  detective,  who 
resided  in  the  West,  and  whom  I  had  before  employed  on  an 


SAMUEL  M.  FELTON'S  NARRATIVE.  251 

important  matter.  He  was  a  man  of  great  skill  and  resources. 
I  furnished  him  with  a  few  hints,  and  at  once  set  him  on  the 
track  with  eight  assistants.  There  were  then  drilling  upon  the 
line  of  the  railroad  some  three  military  organizations,  profess 
edly  for  home  defense,  pretending  to  be  Union  men,  and,  in  one 
or  two  instances,  tendering  their  services  to  the  railroad  in  case 
of  trouble.  Their  propositions  were  duly  considered;  but  the 
defense  of  the  road  was  never  intrusted  to  their  tender  mercies. 
The  first  thing  done  was  to  enlist  a  volunteer  in  each  of  these 
military  companies.  They  pretended  to  come  from  New  Or 
leans  and  Mobile,  and  did  not  appear  to  be  wanting  in  sympa 
thy  for  the  South.  They  were  furnished  with  uniforms  at  the 
expense  of  the  road,  and  drilled  as  often  as  their  associates  in 
arms;  became  initiated  into  all  the  secrets  of  the  organization, 
and  reported  every  day  or  two  to  their  chief,  who  immediately 
reported  to  me  the  designs  and  plans  of  these  military  com 
panies.  One  of  these  organizations  was  loyal,  but  the  other 
two  were  disloyal,  and  fully  in  the  plot  to  destroy  the  bridges 
and  march  to  Washington  to  wrest  it  from  the  hands  of  the  le 
gally  constituted  authorities.  Every  nook  and  corner  of  the 
road  and  its  vicinity  was  explored  by  the  chief  and  his  detect 
ives,  and  the  secret  working  of  secession  and  treason  laid  bare 
and  brought  to  light. 

"  Societies  were  joined  in  Baltimore,  and  various  modes 
known  to  and  practiced  only  by  detectives  were  resorted  to  to 
win  the  confidence  of  the  conspirators  and  get  into  their  se 
crets.  This  plan  worked  well,  and  the  midnight  plottings  and 
daily  consultations  of  the  conspirators  were  treasured  up  as  a 
guide  to  our  future  plans  for  thwarting  them.  It  turned  out 
that  all  that  had  been  communicated  by  Miss  Dix  and  the  gen 
tleman  from  Baltimore  rested  upon  a  foundation  of  fact,  and 
that  the  half  had  not  been  told.  It  was  made  as  certain  as 
strong  circumstantial  and  positive  evidence  could  make  it,  that 
there  was  a  plot  to  burn  the  bridges  and  destroy  the  road,  and 


252  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

murder  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his  way  to  Washington,  if  it  turned  out 
that  he  went  there  before  troops  were  called.  If  troops  were 
first  called,  then  the  bridges  were  to  be  destroyed  and  Wash 
ington  cut  off  and  taken  possession  of  by  the  South.  I  at  once 
organized  and  armed  a  force  of  about  two  hundred  men,  whom 
I  distributed  along  the  line  between  the  Susquehanna  and  Bal 
timore,  principally  at  the  bridges. 

"These  men  were  drilled  secretly  and  regularly  by  drill-mas 
ters,  and  were  apparently  employed  in  whitewashing  the  bridges, 
putting  on  some  six  or  seven  coats  of  whitewash  saturated 
with  salt  and  alum,  to  make  the  outside  of  the  bridges  as  nearly 
fire-proof  as  possible.  This  whitewashing,  so  extensive  in  its 
application,  became  the  nine-days'  wonder  of  the  neighborhood. 
Thus  the  bridges  were  strongly  guarded,  and  a  train  was  ar 
ranged  so  as  to  concentrate  all  the  forces  at  one  point  in  case 
of  trouble.  The  programme  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  changed,  and  it 
was  decided  by  him  that  he  would  go  to  Harrisburg  from  Phil 
adelphia,  and  thence  over  the  Northern  Central  road  by  day  to 
Baltimore,  and  thence  to  Washington.  We  were  then  informed 
by  our  detective  that  the  attention  of  the  conspirators  was  turn 
ed  from  our  road  to  the  Northern  Central,  and  that  they  would 
there  await  the  coming  of  Mr.  Lincoln;  This  statement  was 
confirmed  by  our  Baltimore  gentleman,  who  came  out  again  and 
said  their  designs  upon  our  road  were  postponed  for  the  pres 
ent,  and,  unless  we  carried  troops,  would  not  be  renewed  again. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  be  waylaid  on  the  line  of  the  Northern 
Central  road,  and  prevented  from  reaching  Washington,  and 
his  life  was  to  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the  attempt.  Thus  matters 
stood  on  his*  arrival  in  Philadelphia.  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  com 
municate  to  him  the  facts  that  had  come  to  my  knowledge,  and 
urge  his  going  to  Washington  privately  that  night  in  our  sleep 
ing-car,  instead  of  publicly  two  days  after,  as  was  proposed.  I 
went  to  a  hotel  in  Philadelphia,  where  I  met  the  detective,  who 
was  registered  under  an  assumed  name,  and  arranged  with  him 


PRESIDENT    LINCOLN    IN    PERIL.  253 

to  bring  Mr.  Judd,  Mr.  Lincoln's  intimate  friend,  to  my  room  in 
season  to  arrange  the  journey  to  Washington  that  night.  One 
of  our  sub-detectives  made  three  efforts  to  communicate  with 
Mr.  Judd  while  passing  through  the  streets  in  the  procession, 
and  was  three  times  arrested  and  carried  out  of  the  crowd  by 
the  police.  The  fourth  time  he  succeeded,  and  brought  Mr. 
Judd  to  my  room,  where  he  met  the  detective-in-chief  and  my 
self. 

"  We  lost  no  time  in  making  known  to  him  all  the  facts  which 
had  come  to  our  knowledge  in  reference  to  the  conspiracy,  and 
I  most  earnestly  advised  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should  go  to  Wash 
ington  that  night  in  the  sleeping-car.  Mr.  Judd  fully  entered 
into  the  plan,  and  said  he  would  urge  Mr.  Lincoln  to  adopt  it. 
On  his  communicating  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  after  the  services  of 
the  evening  were  over,  he  answered  that  he  had  engaged  to  go 
to  Harrisburg  and  speak  the  next  day,  and  he  would  not  break 
his  engagement  even  in  the  face  of  such  peril,  but  that  after  he 
had  fulfilled  the  engagement  he  would  follow  such  advice  as  we 
might  give  him  in  reference  to  his  journey  to  Washington.  It 
was  then  arranged  that  he  would  go  to  Harrisburg  the  next  day 
and  make  his  address,  after  which  he  was  to  apparently  return 
to  Governor  Curtin's  house  for  the  night,  but  in  reality  to  go  to  a 
point  about  two  miles  out  of  Harrisburg,  where  an  extra  car 
and  engine  awaited  to  take  him  to  Philadelphia.  At  the  time 
of  his  returning,  the  telegraph  lines,  east,  west,  north,  and  south, 
were  cut,  so  that  no  message  as  to  his  movements  could  be  sent 
off  in  any  direction.  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  possibly  arrive  in 
season  for  our  regular  train  that  left  at  eleven  P.  M.,  and  I  did 
not  dare  to  send  him  by  an  extra  for  fear  of  its  being  found  out 
or  suspected  that  he  was  on  the  road  ;  so  it  became  necessary 
for  me  to  devise  some  excuse  for  the  detention  of  the  train. 
But  three  or  four  on  the  road  besides  myself  knew  the  plan. 
One  of  these  I  sent  by  an  earlier  train,  to  say  to  the  people  of 
the  Washington  branch  road  that  I  had  an  important  package 


254  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

I  was  getting  ready  for  the  eleven  P.M.  train ;  that  it  was 
necessary  that  I  should  have  this  package  delivered  in  Wash 
ington  early  the  next  morning,  without  fail ;  that  I  was  strain 
ing  every  nerve  to  get  it  ready  by  eleven  o'clock,  but,  in  case  I 
did  not  succeed,  I  should  delay  the  train  until  it  was  ready, 
probably  not  more  than  half  an  hour,  and  I  wished  as  a  person 
al  favor  that  the  Washington  train  should  await  the  coming  of 
ours  from  Philadelphia  before  leaving.  This  request  was  will 
ingly  complied  with  by  the  managers  of  the  Washington  branch, 
and  the  man  whom  I  had  sent  to  Baltimore  so  informed  me  by 
telegraph  in  cipher.  The  second  person  in  the  secret  I  sent  to 
West  Philadelphia  with  a  carriage,  to  await  the  coining  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  I  gave  him  a  package  of  old  railroad  reports,  done 
up  with  great  care,  with  a  great  seal  attached  to  it,  and  direct 
ed,  in  a  fair,  round  hand,  to  a  person  at  Willard's.  I  marked  it 
*  Very  important.  To  be  delivered,  without  fail,  by  eleven  o'clock 
train,'  indorsing  my  own  name  upon  the  package.  Mr.  Lin 
coln  arrived  in  West  Philadelphia,  and  was  immediately  taken 
into  the  carriage  and  driven  to  within  a  square  of  our  sta 
tion,  where  my  man  with  the  package  jumped  off,  and  waited  till 
he  saw  the  carriage  drive  up  to  the  door  and  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
the  detective  get  out  and  go  into  the  station.  He  then  came 
up  and  gave  the  package  to  the  conductor,  who  was  waiting  at 
the  door  to  receive  it,  in  company  with  a  police  officer.  Tick 
ets  had  been  bought  beforehand  for  Mr.  Lincoln  and  party  to 
Washington,  including  a  tier  of  berths  in  the  sleeping-car.  He 
passed  between  the  conductor  and  the  police  officer  at  the  door, 
and  neither  suspected  who  he  was.  The  conductor  remarked 
as  he  passed,  '  Well,  old  fellow,  it  was  lucky  for  you  that  our 
president  detained  the  train  to  send  a  package  by  it,  or  you 
would  have  been  left.'  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  detective  safely 
ensconced  in  the  sleeping-car,  and  my  package  safe  in  the 
hands  of  the  conductor,  the  train  started  for  Baltimore  nearly 
fifteen  minutes  behind  time.  Our  man  No.  3,  George , 


THE    ESCAPE.  255 

started  with  the  train  to  go  to  Baltimore,  and  hand  it  over 
with  its  contents  to  man  No.  i,  who  awaited  its  arrival  in  Balti 
more.  Before  the  train  reached  Gray's  Ferry  bridge,  and  be 
fore  Mr.  Lincoln  had  resigned  himself  to  slumber,  the  conduct 
or  came  to  our  man  George,  and  said,  '  George,  I  thought 
you  and  I  were  old  friends ;  and  why  did  you  not  tell  me  we 
had  Old  Abe  on  board  ?'  George,  thinking  the  conductor  had 
in  some  way  become  possessed  of  the  secret,  answered,  'John, 
we  are  friends;  and,  as  you  have  found  it  out,  Old  Abe  is  on 
board ;  and  we  will  still  be  friends,  and  see  him  safely  through.' 
John  answered,  'Yes,  if  it  costs  me  my  life  he  shall  have  a  safe 
passage.'  And  so  George  stuck  to  one  end  of  the  car  and  the 
conductor  to  the  other,  every  moment  that  his  duties  to  the 
other  passengers  would  admit  of  it.  It  turned  out,  however, 
that  the  conductor  was  mistaken  in  his  man.  A  man  strongly 
resembling  Mr.  Lincoln  had  come  down  to  the  train,  about  half 
an  hour  before  it  left,  and  bought  a  ticket  to  Washington  for 
the  sleeping-car.  The  conductor  had  seen  him,  and  concluded 
it  was  the  veritable  Old  Abe.  George  delivered  the  sleeping- 
car  and  train  over  to  William  in  Baltimore,  as  had  been  previ 
ously  arranged,  who  took  his  place  at  the  brake,  and  rode  to 
Washington,  where  he  arrived  at  six  A.M.,  on  time,  and  saw 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  hands  of  a  friend,  safely  delivered  at  Wil- 
lard's,  where  he  secretly  ejaculated,  'God  be  praised!'  He 
also  saw  the  package  of  railroad  reports,  marked  '  important,' 
safely  delivered  into  the  hands  for  which  it  was  intended.  This 
being  done,  he  performed  his  morning  ablutions  in  peace  and 
quiet,  and  enjoyed  with  unusual  zest  his  breakfast.  At  eight 
o'clock,  the  time  agreed  upon,  the  telegraph  wires  were  joined  ; 
and  the  first  message  flashed  across  the  line  was,  'Your  pack 
age  has  arrived  safely,  and  has  been  delivered.  Signed,  Wil 
liam.'  Then  there  went  up  from  the  writer  of  this  a  shout  of 
joy  and  a  devout  thanksgiving  to  Him  from  whom  all  blessings 
flow;  and  the  few  who  were  in  the  secret  joined  in  a  heartfelt 


256  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

amen.  Thus  began  and  ended  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
rebellion  that  has  never  before  been  written,  but  about  which 
there  have  been  many  hints,  entitled  '  A  Scotch  Cap  and  Rid 
ing-cloak,'  etc.,  neither  of  which  had  any  foundation  in  truth, 
as  Mr.  Lincoln  traveled  in  his  ordinary  dress.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  safely  inaugurated,  after  which  I  discharged  our  detective 
force,  and  also  the  semi-military  whitewashes,  and  all  was  quiet 
and  serene  again  on  our  railroad.  But  the  distant  booming  from 
Fort  Sumter  was  soon  heard,  and  aroused  in  earnest  the  whole 
population  of  the  loyal  States.  The  seventy-five  thousand  three- 
months'  men  were  called  out,  and  again  the  plans  for  burning 
bridges  and  destroying  the  railroad  were  revived  in  all  their 
force  and  intensity.  Again  I  sent  Mr.  Trist  to  Washington  to 
see  General  Scott,  to  beg  for  troops  to  garrison  the  road,  as 
our  forces  were  then  scattered  and  could  not  be  then  got  at. 
Mr.  Trist  telegraphed  me  that  the  forces  would  be  supplied,  but 
the  crisis  came  on  immediately,  and  all,  and  more  than  all,  were 
required  at  Washington.  At  the  last  moment  I  obtained  and 
sent  down  the  road  about  two  hundred  men,  armed  with  shot 
guns  and  revolvers — all  the  arms  I  could  get  hold  of  at  that 
time.  They  were  raw  and  undisciplined  men,  and  not  fit  to 
cope  with  those  brought  against  them — about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men,  fully  armed,  and  commanded  by  the  redoubtable  reb 
el,  J.  R.  Trimble." 

To  confirm  this  careful  statement  of  Mr.  Felton,  who  is  now 
living  in  honored  retirement  near  Thurlow,  Delaware  County, 
Pennsylvania,  I  need  only  refer  to  subsequent  events :  To 
the  attack  upon  the  Massachusetts  Sixth,  to  the  after  attempts 
of  the  rebels  to  burn  the  bridges  across  the  Susquehanna,  to 
the  necessity  of  placing  Baltimore  under  military  rule,  and  to 
the  authoritative  admission  of  the  Baltimore  Sun  of  Monday, 
the  25th  of  February,  1861,  proving  that  if  President  Lincoln 
had  taken  the  Northern  Central,  and  had  reached  Baltimore  by 
the  Calvert  Street  depot,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  been  mur- 


WASHINGTON'S    CARRIAGE.  257 

dered  in  cold  blood,  and  the  conspiracy  foreshadowed  and  ex 
posed  by  Mr.  Felton  carried  out  and  consummated.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  sensations  of  the  Union  men  and  the  conster 
nation  of  the  rebels  when  Abraham  Lincoln  entered  Washing 
ton  on  Saturday,  the  23d  of  February.  We  all  breathed  freer 
and  deeper.  We  felt  that  our  leader  had  reached  the  citadel 
in  safety.  Few  indeed  anticipated  what  incredible  effort  and 
what  incalculable  loss  of  life  would  be  necessary  to  maintain 
the  capital,  and  none,  perhaps,  outside  the  few  persons  who 
had  knowledge  of  the  dark  and  dreadful  plot  herein  revealed, 
believed  that  among  these  sacrifices  would  be  our  beloved  Pres 
ident,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

[January  7, 1872.] 


LIU. 

ON  the  i Qth  of  March,  1791,  President  Washington  wrote 
from  Philadelphia  to  General  Lafayette  as  follows  :  "  My  health 
is  now  quite  restored,  and  I  flatter  myself  with  the  hope  of  a 
long  exemption  from  sickness.  On  Monday  next  I  shall  enter 
upon  your  friendly  prescription  of  exercise,  intending  at  that  time 
to  begin  a  long  journey  to  the  southward."  He  had  been  invited 
by  many  of  the  leading  characters  of  the  Southern  States,  who 
promised  him  every  where  the  cordial  and  enthusiastic  greeting 
which  two  years  before  marked  his  triumphal  progress  through 
New  England.  The  carriage  in  which  he  traveled  was  that  in 
which  he  usually  appeared  on  public  occasions  in  Philadelphia. 
This  carriage  was  built  by  Mr.  Clarke,  of  that  city,  and  was 
carefully  preserved  in  a  house  built  especially  for  its  reception, 
where  it  remained  for  half  a  century.  It  is  described  as  "  a 
most  satisfactory  exhibition  of  the  progress  of  American  manu 
factures."  It  was  drawn  by  six  horses,  carefully. selected  for 


258  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

their  handsome  appearance  and  endurance.  Washington  started 
from  his  residence,  in  Market  Street,  at  twelve  o'clock,  on  Mon 
day,  the  2ist  of  March,  1791.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  General  Knox 
escorted  him  into  the  State  of  Delaware,  and  there  left  him. 
Major  Jackson,  one  of  his  private  secretaries,  accompanied  him 
until  he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  the  capital  of  the  nation.  He 
arrived  at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  on  the  25th  of  March,  and  re 
mained  two  days.  He  stopped  at  Georgetown,  thence  pro 
ceeded  to  Mount  Vernon,  where  he  remained  a  week,  thence  to 
Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  where  he  dined  with  his  old  friends 
and  neighbors,  recalling,  with  Chancellor  Wythe,  the  scenes  of 
his  youth  and  early  manhood.  The  party  arrived  at  Richmond 
at  eleven  o'clock  on  Monday,  the  nth  of  April,  where,  as  at  An 
napolis,  Washington  was  greeted  with  acclamations  and  public 
illuminations.  They  visited  Halifax,  Newbern,  Wilmington, 
and  other  places  in  North  Carolina.  Leaving  Wilmington, 
Washington  was  rowed  across  Cape  Fear  River  in  an  elegantly 
decorated  barge.  He  arrived  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
on  Monday,  the  2d  of  May.  Charleston  was  then  the  gayest  of 
cities.  Milliners  and  tailors  corresponded  directly  with  invent 
ors  of  dresses  in  London  and  Paris.  Women  preferred  French 
fashions,  and  often  improved  upon  them.  Gentlemen  were  par 
tial  to  blue,  the  product  of  their  staple,  indigo.  Pantaloons  had 
been  introduced,  and  were  worn  by  some  of  the  younger  men, 
but  in  a  few  years  were  entirely  laid  aside,  and  breeches  re 
sumed.  Duels  were  frequent.  "  Drunkenness,"  says  Dr.  Ram 
sey,  "  was  the  endemic  vice."  There  were  periodical  races,  hunt 
ing  and  fishing,  and  luxurious  dinners,  followed  by  dancing  and 
music.  The  Due  de  Rochefoucauld  Liancourt  observed  that 
"from  the  hour  of  four  in  the  afternoon  the  people  of  Charleston 
rarely  thought  of  any  thing  but  pleasure.  They  had  two  gaming 
houses,  both  constantly  full.  The  inhabitants  had  acquired 
great  knowledge  of  European  manners,  and  a  stronger  partiality 
for  them  than  was  found  in  New  York.  A  foreign  style  of  life 


WASHINGTON'S  SOUTHERN  TOUR.  259 

prevailed."  This  view  of  the  inner  society  of  Charleston  is  in 
teresting  as  the  key  to  a  future  largely  controlled  by  the  polit 
ical  opinions  there  nurtured  and  disseminated.  Here  the  Pres 
ident  had  a  royal  greeting,  A  twelve-oared  barge,  commanded 
by  thirteen  captains  of  American  ships,  conveyed  him,  with  sev 
eral  distinguished  gentlemen,  from  HadrilPs  Point,  surrounded 
by  a  fleet  containing  an  instrumental  band  and  a  choir  of  sing 
ers,  which  greeted  him  with  triumphant  airs  and  songs  on  his 
way  to  the  city,  where  he  was  received  by  the  Governor,  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  the  military,  amid  ringing  of  bells, 
firing  of  cannon,  and  public  acclamations.  He  remained  a 
week  the  centre  of  affection  and  admiration.  At  the  corpora 
tion  ball  two  hundred  and  fifty  ladies  wore  sashes  decorated 
with  his  likeness.  A  part  of  their  head-dress  was  a  fillet  or 
bandeau,  with  the  inscription  "  Long  live  the  President,"  in  gilt 
letters.  He  sat  for  his  portrait  to  Colonel  Trumbull,  the  same 
that  now  adorns  the  City  Hall  in  Philadelphia.  On  Monday, 
the  Qth  of  May,  he  left  Charleston,  accompanied  by  a  committee 
from  Savannah,  and  was  escorted  on  board  a  richly  decorated 
boat,  rowed  down  the  river  by  nine  sea  captains,  dressed  in 
light-blue  silk  jackets,  black  satin  breeches,  white  silk  stockings, 
and  round  hats  with  black  ribbons,  inscribed  "  Long  live  the 
President,"  in  gold  letters.  Ten  miles  from  Savannah  they 
were  met  by  other  barges,  in  one  of  which  the  gentlemen  sung 
the  popular  air,  "  He  comes,  the  Hero  comes  !"  Here  new 
honors  and  festivities  awaited  him.  He  passed  on  to  Augusta, 
where  the  populace  rapturously  received  him ;  returned  into 
South  Carolina,  visited  Columbia,  dined  at  Cainden,  passed 
through  Charlotte,  Salisbury,  Salem,  Guilford,  and  other  towns 
in  North  Carolina,  and  arrived  at  Mount  Vernon  on  the  i2th 
of  June.  On  the  last  day  of  that  month  he  started  for  Phila 
delphia  by  way  of  Frederick,  York,  and  Lancaster,  and  arrived 
at  the  Presidential  residence  about  noon  on  the  6th  of  July, 
having  been  absent  nearly  three  months,  during  that  period 


260  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

performing  a  journey  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  miles.  It  was  said  of  Washington  that  "no  man  in  the 
army  had  a  better  eye  for  horses."  This  long  tour  was  a  severe 
test  of  the  capacity  of  his  steeds,  and  before  reaching  Charles 
ton  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Lear,  his  secretary,  "  that,  though  all  things 
considered,  they  had  got  on  very  well,  yet  if  brought  back  they 
would  not  cut  capers  as  they  did  on  setting  out.  My  horses, 
especially  the  two  I  bought  just  before  I  left  Philadelphia,  and 
my  old  white  one,  are  much  worn  down,  and  yet  I  have  one 
hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  miles  of  heavy  sand  before  I 
get  into  the  upper  roads." 

While  the  President  was  in  the  South,  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
James  Madison  were  making  a  tour  in  the  North.  They  pro 
ceeded  to  New  York,  sailed  up  the  Hudson  to  Albany,  visited 
the  principal  scenes  of  the  British  General  Burgoyne's  misfor 
tunes,  at  Stillwater,  Saratoga,  and  Bennington,  Fort  William 
Henry,  Fort  Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point,  and  other  memorable 
Revolutionary  places.  Jefferson  amused  himself  with  his  gun 
and  hook  and  line,  and  indulged  his  strong  taste  for  natural 
history. 

I  recall  these  facts  to  show  that  the  custom  of  Presidential 
journeys  did  not  originate  with  President  Grant.  The  example 
of  Washington  was  followed  without  censure  or  exception  by  all 
his  successors,  save  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  constantly  at  work  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  war.  Eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
miles  in  three  months  was  regarded  as  an  extraordinary  feat  in 
1791  ;  and  if  the  most  hopeful  of  our  statesmen  had  then  pre 
dicted  that  the  day  would  come  when  a  successor  of  Washing 
ton  would  preside  over  thirty-seven  States,  with  a  population  of 
nearly  forty  millions  of  people,  and  travel  from  Washington  City 
to  the  Pacific  and  back,  by  way  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
— a  double  distance  of  over  seven  thousand  miles,  with  plenty 
of  time  to  see  and  converse  with  the  masses,  all  in  one  month 
— he  would  have  been  denounced  as  a  lunatic. 


WASHINGTON    IN    PHILADELPHIA.  261 

Washington  was  pleased  with  his  Southern  tour.  In  one  of  his 
letters  he  said  :  "  It  was  accomplished  without  any  interruption 
by  sickness,  bad  weather,  or  any  untoward  accident.  Indeed, 
so  highly  favored  were  we  that  we  arrived  at  each  place  where 
I  proposed  to  halt  on  the  very  day  I  fixed  before  we  set  out. 
I  am  very  much  pleased  that  I  undertook  this  excursion,  as  it 
has  enabled  me  to  see  with  my  own  eyes  the  situation  of  the 
country  through  which  we  traveled,  and  to  learn  more  accurately 
the  disposition  of  the  people  than  I  could  through  any  informa 
tion." 

But  these  contrasts  and  comparisons  do  not  end  here.  Offi 
cial  manners,  customs,  'and  costumes  were  different  things  when 
Washington  lived  in  Philadelphia  from  what  they  are  to-day. 
His  habit,  when  the  day  was  fine,  was  to  take  a  walk,  attended 
by  his  two  secretaries,  Mr.  Lear  and  Major  William  Jackson, 
one  on  each  side.  He  always  crossed  directly  from  his  own 
door,  on  Market  Street,  near  Fifth,  to  the  sunny  side,  and  walked 
down  toward  the  river.  He  was  dressed  in  black,  and  all  three 
wore  cocked  hats.  They  were  silent  men,  and  seemed  to  con 
verse  very  little.  Washington  had  a  large  family  coach,  a  light 
carriage,  and  a  chariot,  all  light  cream  -  colored,  painted  with 
three  enameled  figures  on  each  panel,  and  very  handsome.  He 
went  in  the  coach  to  Christ  Church  every  Sunday  morning, 
with  two  horses ;  used  the  carriage  and  four  for  his  rides  into 
the  country,  and  the  Lansdowne,  the  Hills,  and  other  places. 
When  he  visited  the  Senate  he  had  the  chariot,  with  six  horses. 
All  his  servants  were  white,  and  wore  liveries  of  white  cloth, 
trimmed  with  scarlet  or  orange.  It  was  Mrs.  Washington's  cus 
tom  to  return  calls  on  the  third  day.  The  footman  would  knock 
loudly  and  announce  Mrs.  Washington,  who  would  then  pay  the 
visit  in  company  with  Mr.  Secretary  Lear.  Her  manners  were 
easy,  pleasant,  and  unceremonious.  The  late  lamented  Rich 
ard  Rush,  whom  I  knew  well,  and  who  occupied  very  many  dis 
tinguished  positions,  local,  State,  national,  and  diplomatic,  and 


262  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

who  died  July  30,  1859,  aged  seventy-nine,  recalls  a  scene  in 
Philadelphia  in  1794-95,  when  Washington  opened  Congress 
in  person,  and  which  Mr.  Rush  saw  as  a  boy.  His  words  are  al 
most  mine.  "  The  carriage  of  the  President  was  drawn  by  four 
beautiful  bay  horses.  It  was  white,  with  medallion  ornaments 
on  the  panels,  the  liveries  of  the  servants  white  turned  up  with 
red.  Washington  got  out  of  the  carriage,  slowly  crossed  the 
pavement,  ascended  the  steps  of  the  edifice,  corner  of  Sixth  and 
Chestnut,  upon  the  upper  platform  of  which  he  paused,  and, 
turning  half  around,  looked  in  the  direction  of  a  carriage  which 
had  followed  the  lead  of  his  own.  Thus  he  stood  for  a  minute, 
distinctly  seen  by  every  body  in  the  vast  concourse.  His  cos 
tume  was  a  full  suit  of  black  velvet ;  his  hair,  blanched  by  time, 
powdered  to  snowy  whiteness,  a  dress  sword  hanging  by  his 
side,  his  hat  in  his  hand.  Profound  stillness  reigned  through 
out  the  dense  crowd ;  not  a  word  was  heard ;  every  heart  was 
full.  It  seemed  as  if  he  stood  in  that  position  to  gratify  the 
assembled  thousands  with  a  full  view  of  the  Father  of  his  Coun 
try.  Not  so ;  he  paused  for  his  secretary,  who  had  got  out  of 
the  other  carriage,  decorated  like  his  own.  The  secretary  as 
cended  the  steps,  handed  him  a  paper,  probably  a  copy  of  the 
speech  he  was  to  deliver,  when  both  entered  the  building.  An 
English  gentleman,  a  manufacturer,  Mr.  Henry  Wansey,  break 
fasted  with  Washington  and  his  family  on  the  8th  of  June,  1794. 
He  was  greatly  impressed.  The  first  President  was  then  in  his 
sixty-third  year,  but  had  little  appearance  of  age,  having  been 
in  his  life  exceedingly  temperate.  Mrs.  Washington  herself 
made  tea  and  coffee  for  them ;  on  the  table  were  two  small 
plates  of  sliced  tongue  and  dry  toast,  bread  and  butter,  but  no 
broiled  fish,  as  is  generally  the  custom.  Miss  Eleanor  Custis, 
her  granddaughter,  a  very  pleasant  young  lady,  in  her  sixteenth 
year,  sat  next  to  her,  and  next,  her  grandson,  George  Washing* 
ton  Parke  Custis,  about  two  years  older.  There  were  but  few 
slight  indications  of  form ;  one  servant  only  attended,  who  wore 


MRS.  WASHINGTON.  263 

no  livery.  Mrs.  Washington  struck  him  as  something  older 
than  the  President,  although  he  understood  they  were  both 
born  the  same  year.  She  was  short  in  stature,  rather  robust, 
extremely  simple  in  her  dress,  and  wore  a  very  plain  cap,  with 
her  hair  turned  under  it."  This  description  of  Mrs.  Washing 
ton  corresponds  exactly  with  the  portrait  painted  by  Trumbull, 
now  in  the  Trumbull  gallery,  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  In 
1793  Washington  left  Philadelphia  for  nearly  three  months  dur 
ing  the  prevalence  of  yellow-fever,  and  stayed  at  Mount  Ver- 
non.  The  disease  broke  out  in  August,  but  he  continued  at 
his  post  until  the  loth  of  September.  He  wished  to  stay  longer, 
but  Mrs.  Washington  was  unwilling  to  leave  him  exposed,  and 
he  could  not,  without  hazarding  her  life  and  the  lives  of  the 
children,  remain.  Freneau,  the  editor  who  was  charged  with 
having  written  the  bitterest  things  against  Washington,  com 
plained  in  the  following  stanza  that  the  physicians  fled  from 
Philadelphia  to  escape  the  plague  : 

"  On  prancing  steed,  with  sponge  at  nose, 

From  town  behold  Sangrado  fly; 
Camphor  and  tar,  where'er  he  goes, 

The  infected  shafts  of  death  defy- 
Safe  in  an  atmosphere  of  scents, 
He  leaves  us  to  our  own  defense." 

Among  the  public  characters  attacked  by  the  yellow-fever 
were  Mr.  Willing  and  Colonel  Hamilton,  but  they  recovered. 
The  officers  of  the  government  were  dispersed,  and  the  Presi 
dent  even  deliberated  on  the  propriety  of  convening  Congress 
elsewhere ;  but  the  abatement  of  the  disease  rendered  this  un 
necessary,  and  in  November  the  inhabitants  returned  to  their 
homes,  and  Congress  reassembled  on  the  2d  of  December. 

[January  14,  1872.] 


264  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 


LIV. 

ONE  Saturday  afternoon  in  July,  1861,  George  H.  Boker,  now 
on  his  way  as  American  Minister  to  Constantinople,  visited 
Washington  City  and  called  with  me  upon  President  Lincoln. 
It  was  a  most  interesting  period  of  the  war,  just  previous  to  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run.  When  I  presented  Boker  to  the  President, 
in  his  reception-room,  up  stairs,  he  asked,  "  Are  you  the  son 
of  Charles  S.  Boker,  of  Philadelphia  ?"  My  friend  answered, 
"  That  is  what  I  am  believed  to  be."  "Well,"  said  the  Presi 
dent,  "I  was  your  father's  lawyer  in  Springfield,  and  I  only  wish 
I  had  all  the  money  I  collected  and  paid  to  him,  for  I  would 
have  a  very  handsome  fortune."  The  Marine  Band  was  play 
ing  on  the  green,  south  of  the  Presidential  mansion,  surrounded 
by  a  gay  and  glittering  crowd.  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  "  The  Ken 
tucky  commissioners  are  waiting  for  me  on  the  balcony  below. 
They  are  here  to  protest  against  my  sending  troops  through 
their  State  to  the  relief  of  the  Unionists  of  Tennessee,  and  I 
would  like  you  and  Forney  to  come  down  and  see  them.  They 
say  they  want  Kentucky  to  decide  her  relations  to  the  General 
Government  for  herself,  and  that  any  forces  sent  through  their 
State  to  the  Unionists  of  Tennessee  would  certainly  arouse  the 
elements  of  revolt."  Then  Boker  told  the  President  an  anec 
dote  of  the  British  Minister  at  the  Court  of  Frederick  the  Great, 
who  was  anxious  to  persuade  the  King  to  take  part  in  the 
British  conflicts  with  other  European  powers.  Old  Fritz  stead 
ily  refused  to  be  involved.  His  policy  was  against  all  part  in 
the  quarrel.  At  a  formal  state  dinner,  when  the  British  Minis 
ter  was  present,  Frederick  said,  "Will  my  Lord  Bristol" — the 
name  of  the  British  plenipotentiary — "allow  me  to  send  him  a 
piece  of  capon  ?"  to  which  the  latter  indignantly  replied,  "  No, 
sir;  I  decline  having  any  thing  to  do  with  neutral  animals." 
The  President  enjoyed  the  joke  hugely,  and  we  walked  down 


if 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  265 

stairs,  where,  on  the  balcony  overlooking  the  joyous  throng, 
stood  the  two  Kentucky  commissioners,  one  of  them  the  emi 
nent  Judge  Robertson,  lately  deceased.  They  renewed  their 
appeals  against  sending  troops  across  their  State  with  much 
earnestness  and  ability.  Mr.  Lincoln  quietly  but  resolutely 
combated  their  views,  assuring  them  that  neutrality  did  not 
become  any  of  the  friends  of  the  Government — that  while  the 
citizen  enjoyed  his  rights  and  the  protection  of  the  laws,  he 
must  also  recognize  his  obligations  and  his  duties.  Then  turn 
ing  to  Boker,  he  asked  him  to  repeat  the  incident  between  Fred 
erick  the  Great  and  the  British  Minister,  which,  though  it  made 
the  Kentuckians  laugh,  was  evidently  not  agreeable  to  them. 
Mr.  Lincoln  added,  "  Gentlemen,  my  position  in  regard  to  your 
State  is  like  that  of  the  woodman,  who,  returning  to  his  home 
one  night,  found  coiled  around  his  beautiful  children,  who  were 
quietly  sleeping  in  their  bed,  several  poisonous  snakes.  His 
first  impulse  was  to  save  his  little  ones,  but  he  feared  that  if  he 
struck  at  the  snakes  he  might  strike  the  children,  and  yet  he 
dared  not  let  them  die  without  an  effort.  So  it  is  with  me.  I 
know  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  are  infested  with  the  enemies 
of  the  Union ;  but  I  know  also  that  there  are  thousands  of  pa 
triots  in  both  who  will  be  persecuted  even  unto  death  unless 
the  strong  hand  of  the  Government  is  interposed  for  their  pro 
tection  and  rescue.  We  must  go  in.  The  old  flag  must  be 
carried  into  Tennessee  at  whatever  hazard."  Upon  which  the 
commissioners  retired  with  unconcealed  dissatisfaction.  Un 
happily  for  the  good  cause,  it  was  many  months  before  relief 
could  be  extended  to  the  clamorous  people  of  Tennessee.  Ken 
tucky  lay  athwart  the  road  to  their  rescue,  a  dark  and  stubborn 
obstacle ;  and  now,  six  years  after  the  overthrow  of  the  rebell 
ion — thanks  to  the  dangerous  doctrine  of  neutrality — the  State 
most  obdurate  and  obstinate  in  its  opposition  to  all  progress, 
most  ready  to  resort  to  violence  against  the  law,  most  eager  in 
its  opposition  to  the  Union  people,  most  intolerant  to  free  opin- 

M 


266  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

ion,  most  qualified  to  throw  the  largest  vote  against  the  Repub 
lican  party — is  this  very  State  of  Kentucky.  So  much  for  neu 
trality  in  politics  and  in  war.  In  a  few  days  came  the  first  bat 
tle  of  Bull  Run  with  all  its  attendant  horrors,  teaching  to  us  the 
severest  lesson  of  the  great  conflict — the  lesson  that  a  great 
people,  armed  for  their  own  defense  and  for  their  own  liberties, 
must  be  prepared  at  all  points.  Just  at  that  period  the  genius  of 
Boker  broke  out  in  a  great  poem,  entitled  "Upon  the  Hill  before 
Centreville,  July  21,  1861,"  from  which  I  extract  the  following: 

"  Awake,  my  countrymen  !  with  me 
Redeem  the  honor  which  you  lost, 
With  any  blood,  at  any  cost ! 
I  ask  not  how  the  war  began, 
Nor  how  the  quarrel  branched  and  ran 
To  this  dread  height.     The  wrong  or  right 
Stands  clear  before  God's  faultless  sight 
I  only  feel  the  shameful  blow, 
I  only  see  the  scornful  foe, 
And  vengeance  burns  in  every  vein 
To  die,  or  wipe  away  the  stain. 
The  war-wise  hero  of  the  West, 
Wearing  his  glories  as  a  crest 
Of  trophies  gathered  in  your  sight, 
Is  arming  for  the  coming  fight. 
Full  well  his  wisdom  apprehends 
The  duty  and  its  mighty  ends  ; 
The  great  occasion  of  the  hour, 
That  never  lay  in  human  power 
Since  over  Yorktown's  tented  plain 
The  red  cross  fell,  nor  rose  again. 
My  humble  pledge  of  faith  I  lay, 
Dear  comrade  of  my  school-boy  day, 
Before  thee,  in  the  nation's  view ; 
And  if  thy  prophet  prove  untrue, 
And  from  thy  country's  grasp  be  thrown 
The  sceptre  and  the  starry  crown, 
And  thou  and  all  thy  marshaled  host 
Be  baffled,  and  in  ruin  lost — 


GEORGE    H.  BOKER.  267 

O  !  let  me  not  outlive  the  blow 
That  seals  my  country's  overthrow  ! 
And,  lest  this  woeful  end  come  true, 
Men  of  the  North,  I  turn  to  you. 
Display  your  vaunted  flag  once  more, 
Southward  your  eager  columns  pour  ! 
Sound  trump  and  fife  and  rallying  drum ; 
From  every  hill  and  valley  come  ! 
Old  men,  yield  up  your  treasured  gold ; 
Can  liberty  be  priced  and  sold  ? 
Fair  matrons,  maids,  and  tender  brides, 
Gird  weapons  to  your  lovers'  sides  ; 
And,  though  your  hearts  break  at  the  deed, 
Give  them  your  blessing  and  God-speed ; 
Then  point  them  to  the  field  of  fame, 
With  words  like  those  of  Sparta's  dame  ! 
And  when  the  ranks  are  full  and  strong, 
And  the  whole  army  moves  along, 
A  vast  result  of  care  and  skill, 
Obedient  to  the  master  will ; 
And  your  young  hero  draws  the  sword, 
And  gives  the  last  commanding  word 
That  hurls  your  strength  upon  the  foe — 
O,  let  them  need  no  second  blow  ! 
Strike,  as  your  fathers  struck  of  old, 
Through  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold ; 
Through  pain,  disaster,  and  defeat ; 
Through  marches  tracked  with  bloody  feet ; 
Through  every  ill  that  could  befall 
The  holy  cause  that  bound  them  all ! 
Strike  as  they  struck  for  liberty  ! 
Strike  as  they  struck  to  make  you  free  ! 
Strike  for  the  crown  of  victory  !" 

"  The  war-wise  hero  of  the  West "  was  George  B.  McClellan, 
son  of  the  great  surgeon,  George  McClellan,  of  Philadelphia. 
He  had  been  Bolter's  "  dear  comrade  of  the  school-boy  days," 
and  after  the  first  Bull  Run  was  the  nation's  hope.  His  victo 
ries  in  West  Virginia  gave  him  the  opportunity  which  others 
had  lost,  to  be  lost  by  him  in  his  own  turn.  Boker  wrote  sev- 


268  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

eral  great  lyrics  afterward,  but  whatever  he  may  have  said  of 
other  soldiers,  the  tribute  he  paid  to  McClellan  in  1861  was  the 
outpouring  of  a  sincere  and  hopeful  heart. 

[January  21,  1872.] 


LV. 

THE  first  theatrical   performance  in  Philadelphia  of  which 
there  is  any  mention  was  in  January  of  1749,  evidently  con 
ducted  by  home-made  Thespians.     In  1754  some  genuine  art 
ists  arrived,  called  "  Hallam's  Company,"  and  got  a  license  to 
open  their  "  New  Theatre  in  Water  Street,"  in  William  Plum- 
stead's  store,  corner  of  the  first  alley  above  Pine  Street.     Here 
they  acted  "The  Fair  Penitent"  and  "Miss  in  her  Teens"  as 
their  first  effort.     Boxes,  6s.;  pit,  4*.;  gallery,  2S.  6d.     In  1759 
they  opened  at  the  corner  of  Vernon  Street,  then  beyond  the 
city  bounds,  so  as  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the  city  authorities. 
They  were  violently  assailed  by  the  Friends,  and  they  made 
every  effort  to  evade  this  hostility  by  calling  their  entertainment 
a  "  Concert  of  Music,"  and  by  playing  "  George  Barnwell"  "for 
the  benefit  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia,"  and  "to  improve 
youth  in  the  divine  art  of  psalm  and  church  music."     The  Brit 
ish  occupation  of  Philadelphia  revived  the  drama.     They  used 
the  Southwark  Theatre,  the  performers  being  officers  of  Howe's 
army,  the  proceeds  going  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  the 
soldiers.     Major  Andre  and  Captain  Delancy  were  the  scene- 
painters.     In  1793  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre,  northwest  cor 
ner  of  Sixth  and  Chestnut,  was  erected,  under  the  name  of  the 
"New  Theatre,"  in  opposition  to  the  Southwark  Theatre,  known 
afterward  as  the  Old  Theatre.     This  is  the  house  patronized 
by  Washington,  the  statesmen  in  Congress,  and  the  Cabinet 
and  their  families. 


OLD   THEATRES    OF   PHILADELPHIA.  269 

The  New  Theatre  was  not  opened,  in  consequence  of  the 
yellow-fever,  until  the  iyth  of  February,  1794.  The  manager 
was  Wigfall  or  Wignell,  famous  in  the  annals  of  the  American 
stage,  and  "  the  house  was  fitted  up  with  a  luxurious  elegance 
hitherto  unknown  in  this  country."  The  principal  actors  were 
Whitlock,  Harwood,  Morton,  Barley,  Mrs.  Oldmixon,  Mrs. 
Morris,  and  Mrs.  Marshall.  Harwood  married  Miss  Bache, 
granddaughter  of  Dr.  Franklin.  Mrs.  Whitlock  was  a  sister  of 
Mrs.  Siddons.  The  illustrious  John  Jay  writes  from  Philadel 
phia  to  his  wife  on  the  i3th  of  April,  1794,  just  previous  to  his 
appointment  as  envoy  extraordinary  to  the  Court  of  London,  as 
follows :  "  Two  evenings  ago  I  went  to  the  theatre  with  Mrs. 
Robert  Morris  and  her  family.  'The  Gamester,'  a  deep  trag 
edy,  succeeded  by  a  piece  called  '  The  Guardian,'  were  played." 
An  English  traveler  describes  the  theatre  "  as  elegant,  conven 
ient,  and  large  as  that  of  Covent  Garden.  I  should  have  thought 
myself  still  in  England.  The  ladies  wore  small  bonnets  of  the 
same  fashion  as  those  I  saw  in  London,  some  of  checkered 
straw ;  many  had  their  hair  full  dress,  without  caps,  as  with  us, 
and  very  few  had  it  in  the  French  style.  Gentlemen  had  round 
hats,  coats  with  high  collars,  cut  quite  in  the  English  fashion, 
and  many  coats  of  striped  silk."  The  motto  over  the  stage, 
"  The  eagle  suffers  little  birds  to  sing,"  is  explained  by  the  fact 
that  when  it  was  in  contemplation  to  build  the  theatre,  the 
Quakers  used  all  their  influence  with  Congress  to  prevent  it ; 
but  Robert  Morris  and  General  Anthony  Wayne  successfully 
advocated  the  establishment  of  theatres  for  the  public  amuse 
ment.  Wigfall,  the  manager,  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  the 
beautiful  Mrs.  Bingham.  The  cause  of  the  quarrel  seems  to 
have  been  because  she  desired  to  furnish  and  decorate  her  box 
at  her  own  expense,  with  the  absolute  condition  that  the  key 
should  be  kept  by  herself  and  no  admission  allowed  to  any 
one,  except  on  her  assent.  Wigfall  refused  the  exclusive  re 
quest,  and  in  consequence  Mrs.  Bingham  and  her  set  rarely 


270  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

attended  the  theatre.  The  great  rival  of  the  new  Chestnut 
Street  Theatre  was  "  the  Grand  Circus,"  controlled  and  owned 
by  the  celebrated  Ricketts.  Washington  and  his  family  went 
frequently  to  both  their  performances. 

On  Monday,  the  27th  of  February,  1797,  Benjamin  Franklin 
Bache's  Philadelphia  Aurora  and  Advertiser  contained  the  fol 
lowing  paragraph  :  "  The  President  of  the  United  States,  we 
understand,  intends  to  visit  the  theatre  THIS  EVENING,/^ 
the  last  time}'1  The  performance  was  the  celebrated  new  com 
edy,  for  the  fourth  time,  called  "  The  Way  to  Get  Married,"  "  as 
performed  at  Covent  Garden  (I  copy  from  the  advertisement) 
thirty-nine  nights  without  intermission,  the  first  season,  and 
since  upward  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  nights,  with  unbounded 
applause.  At  the  end  of  the  comedy  the  pantomime  ballet, 
composed  by  Mr.  Byrne,  called  '  Dermit  Kathleen,'  to  which 
will  be  added  a  farce  called  'Animal  Magnetism.'  Boxes, 
$i  25  ;  pit,  seven  eighths  of  a  dollar;  gallery,  half  a  dollar. 
The  doors  of  the  theatre  will  open  at  five  o'clock,  and  the  cur 
tain  will  rise  precisely  at  six  o'clock.  Ladies  and  gentlemen 
are  requested  to  send  their  servants  to  keep  places  a  quarter 
before  five  o'clock,  and  to  order  them,  as  soon  as  the  company 
are  seated,  to  withdraw,  as  they  can  on  no  account  be  permitted 
to  remain." 

The  first  President  and  all  his  successors  were  constant  at 
tendants  at  the  theatres,  although  it  was  some  years  before  such 
an  institution  was  built  in  Washington  City  after  it  became  the 
national  capital. 

The  habit  of  attending  places  of  public  amusement  had  no 
exception  in  our  Presidents.  It  was  a  good  way  to  see  and  to 
be  seen  by  the  people.  Mrs.  John  Adams  wrote  in  eulogy  of 
the  New  Chestnut,  in  Philadelphia,  and  her  husband,  the  sec 
ond  President,  attended  of  course.  Jefferson's  residence  in 
France,  his  musical  tastes,  his  fondness  for  polite  literature,  all 
made  him  like  the  stage.  Madison,  Monroe,  and  John  Quincy 


INFLUENCE   OF  ACTORS.  271 

Adams  were  all  men  of  letters,  and  the  latter  as  late  as  1845 
had  quite  a  discussion  with  James  H.  Hackett  on  the  character 
of  Hamlet.  Jackson  went  frequently  to  the  play,  and  Van  Bu- 
ren  followed  his  example.  So  of  John  Tyler,  Polk,  Taylor, 
Fillmore,  Pierce,  and  Buchanan.  Lincoln  was  killed  in  the 
theatre.  Andrew  Johnson  liked  the  drama  when  he  was  in 
Congress,  and  did  not  give  it  up  when  he  was  Chief  Magistrate. 
General  Grant  conforms  to  the  custom  of  his  predecessors. 

Actors  have  always  wielded  a  large  influence,  though  few 
have  been  politicians.  It  was  Talma,  I  believe,  who  boasted 
that  he  had  played  to  "  a  whole  pit  full  of  kings."  Jefferson,  the 
grandfather  of  Joseph,  who,  by  acting  a  single  character,  has 
made  himself  rich  in  fortune  and  fame,  was  a  rare  favorite  with 
the  leading  men  of  Pennsylvania,  especially  with  Chief  Justice 
John  Bannister  Gibson,  who  wrote  the  impressive  words  upon 
his  tombstone  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania.  Forrest  has  been 
welcome  in  every  social  circle,  where,  by  his  humor  and  genius, 
he  has  surpassed  all  rivals.  John  Brougham  is  perhaps  the 
finest  of  dinner-table  companions,  only  excelled  by  the  late 
John  Van  Buren  and  John  T.  Sullivan.  There  is  no  more 
genial  gentleman  than  Davenport,  whom  you  meet  at  most  of 
the  great  parties  in  Philadelphia.  Edwin  Booth  is  exceedingly 
popular  in  New  York  society.  Nobody,  during  his  lifetime, 
was  so  much  sought  after  as  Power,  the  incomparable  Irish 
comedian.  The  late  William  B.  Wood  was  even  more  interest 
ing  off  than  on  the  stage.  William  E.  Burton,  in  his  time,  dis 
tinguished  himself  by  uncommon  versatility  as  a  writer  and  a 
comedian.  The  Wallacks  have  made  fame  for  themselves  by 
scholarship  and  success  as  managers  and  actors.  Fanny  Kem- 
ble,  the  last  of  a  long  list  of  great  artists,  shone  with  equal  brill 
iancy  in  private  and  public  life.  It  is  natural  that  such  people 
should  be  attractive  to  statesmen.  Students  of  the  manners 
and  habits  of  other  countries,  and  mimics  of  the  manners  and 
habits  of  our  own,  where  can  the  wearied  public  servant  find  a 


272  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

surer  and  a  better  rest  than  in  listening  to  the  words  of  the  great 
men  of  the  past  as  these  are  echoed  from  the  stage  by  cultivated 
students  ?  The  President,  who  visits  the  theatre,  not  only  sees 
the  people  and  is  seen  by  them,  but  reposes,  so  to  speak,  with 
out  interruption,  upon  the  delightful  utterances  of  deathless 
minds.  Mr.  Lincoln  liked  the  theatre  not  so  much  for  itself 
as  because  of  the  rest  it  afforded  him.  I  have  seen  him  more 
than  once  looking  at  a  play  without  seeming  to  know  what  was 
going  on  before  him.  Abstracted  and  silent,  scene  after  scene 
would  pass,  and  nothing  roused  him  until  some  broad  joke  or 
curious  antic  disturbed  his  equanimity.  We  are  in  the  habit  of 
saying  that  the  drama  of  the  present  is  not  equal  to  the  drama 
of  the  past — a  truism,  like  many  others,  easily  contradicted. 
Turn  to  New  York,  Philadelphia,  or  any  of  the  great  cities, 
and  compare  the  number  of  amusements  offered  every  night 
with  the  scarcity  of  the  same  attractions  fifty  years  ago;  the 
delightful  repetition  of  the  works  of  the  great  masters ;  the 
endless  inventions  of  modern  playwrights ;  the  infinite  variety 
of  opera,  comedy,  tragedy,  and  spectacular  pantomime  ;  and  no 
other  fact  is  needed  to  enforce  the  argument  that  if  we  are  not 
wiser  than  our  ancestors,  we  certainly  ought  to  be. 

[January  28,  1872.] 


LVI. 

MUCH  of  the  recreation  of  the  public  men  at  the  capital  of 
the  nation  in  former  times  was  entertaining  and  instructive. 
The  era  of  lectures  seems  to  have  superseded  these  symposia — 
perhaps  for  the  better;  but  I  always  recur  to  them  as  the  un- 
forgotten  and  unsurpassed  pleasures  of  my  life.  There  were 
cards  and  wine,  of  course ;  but  the  real  attractions  were  im 
promptu  wit  and  humor,  recitations,  magnetic  speeches,  music, 


SOCIAL    LIFE    IN    WASHINGTON.  273 

and  songs;  and  as  the  participants  were  generally  cultivated 
and  representative  men,  it  needed  no  formal  rule  to  exclude 
vulgarity.  Every  one  had  a  constituency  of  some  sort  to  re 
spect  and  fear,  even  if  he  did  not  respect  himself;  and,  as  they 
were  of  all  sides  in  politics,  many  meeting  for  the  first  time,  and 
never  to  meet  again,  they  did  their  best  to  leave  the  best  im 
pressions.  Ah,  could  those  "Noctes  Ambrosianae"  have  been 
taken  down  in  short-hand,  or  recorded  by  a  faithful  scribe  like 
Pepys,  Boswell,  or  Crabbe  Robinson,  what  a  delicious  repast 
would  have  been  left  to  posterity !  When  William  E.  Burton 
came  to  Washington  to  play,  and  after  the  curtain  fell  would 
join  one  of  these  assemblies,  and  give  us  his  raciest  things 
spontaneously;  when  Charlie  Oakford,  of  Philadelphia — clever, 
genial,  and  ever-ready  Oakford  —  rolled  out  Drake's  "Ode  to 
the  American  Flag,"  with  a  voice  so  rich  and  mellow;  when 
Murdoch  moved  us  to  tears  with  Janvier's  "  Sleeping  Sentinel," 
or  stilled  us  with  the  sweet  drowsiness  of  Buchanan  Read's 
"Drifting;"  when  John  Hay  recited  one  of  his  fine  creations, 
or  Fitz -James  O'Brien  or  Charles  G.  Halpine  thrilled  us  with 
a  song  of  war  or  of  love ;  when  Jack  Savage  sung  us  "  The 
Temptation  of  St.  Anthony,"  or  rare  Forrest  dropped  the  tra 
gedian,  and  played  for  us  the  mimic  and  the  comedian  ;  or 
Jefferson  sung  his  "  Cuckoo  Song ;"  or  Nesmith  of  Oregon  left 
the  Senate  to  set  our  table  in  a  roar;  we  had  no  thought  of 
phonography,  and  no  time  that  was  not  crowded  with  ecstacy. 
Some  of  these  are  dead,  and  all  are  absent  from  the  scenes  of 
these  happy  evenings.  Other  forms  crowd  the  saloons;  other 
voices  wake  the  echoes  of  other  hearts ;  other  eyes  glisten  with 
responsive  smiles  and  tears.  Every  night  we  had  something 
new,  for  the  inventors  of  our  amusements  were  artists,  who  work 
ed  for  the  best  of  all  rewards — the  happiness  of  their  fellows. 

At  one  time  it  was  an  opera  sung  by  a  corps  of  amateurs, 
with  a  houseful  of  Congressmen  in  the  choruses.  Then  we 
"  Buried  Joe  Sanders,"  to  illustrate  the  sin  of  idleness.  This 

M  2 


274  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

was  the  late  John  L.  Dawson's  great  story.  Joe  was  a  village 
nuisance,  who  would  not  work,  and  lived  upon  what  he  could 
borrow  or  beg.  At  last  it  was  resolved  to  -bury  him  alive,  and 
so  relieve  the  village.  A  coffin  was  duly  prepared,  with  a  place 
for  him  to  see  and  breathe,  and  the  procession  started,  Joe  in 
side,  resigned  to  his  fate.  Passing  by  the  blacksmith,  who  stood 
at  his  shop-door,  Vulcan  asked  who  was  to  be  buried.  The 
chief  mourner  answered,  "Joe  Sanders."  "What!  is  poor  Joe 
dead  ?"  "  Oh  no !  but  he  is  so  great  a  nuisance  that,  rather 
than  support  him  any  longer,  we  have  resolved  to  put  him  in 
the  grave  alive."  "  Oh,  that  won't  do,"  says  the  smith;  "  I  have 
enough  corn  to  keep  him  going  for  some  time,  and  he  shall  have 
it."  Joe  overhears  the  dialogue,  lifts  the  coffin  lid,  and  quietly 
asks,  "  Is  the  corn  shelled  ?"  "  No,"  is  the  indignant  reply. 
"Well,  then,"  says  the  disgusted  Joe,  "go  on  with  the  funeral''1 
Dawson  used  to  tell  this  as  a  joke  upon  the  Southerners,  to 
prove  that  they  lived  without  labor.  To  play  this  piece  was 
quite  an  event,  and  required  a  first-rate  Joe  and  a  very  con 
siderable  procession,  with  a  good  feast  after  the  dead  man  was 
in  his  grave — generally  the  back  parlor. 

One  memorable  night  in  January  of  1859  deserves  to  be  spe 
cially  embalmed.  It  has  been  recorded  in  a  volume  for  private 
circulation,  but  has  never  had  any  public  place.  Albert  Pike, 
a  name  well  known  in  poetry  and  journalism,  though  not  so 
well  remembered  in  the  North  for  his  part  in  the  rebellion,  yet 
withal  one  of  the  most  genial  of  men,  was  reported  killed  by  an 
accident,  to  the  great  grief  of  his  very  many  friends  in  Washing 
ton.  The  report  was  proved  to  be  false  by  the  sudden  appear 
ance  of  Pike  himself,  whereupon  John  F.  Coyle,  of  the  National 
Intelligencer,  determined  to  honor  him  by  an  Irish  "  wake  "  at 
his  residence.  More  than  a  hundred  people  participated.  It 
was  called  "The  Life  Wake  of  the  fine  Arkansas  Gentleman 
who  died  before  his  time."  The  "  obituary  "  was  read  by  Alexan 
der  Dimitry,  of  New  Orleans,  after  which  Coyle  sang  a  capital 


THE    WAKE    OF  ALBERT    PIKE.  275 

parody  on  Pike's  own  rare  parody  of  the  "  Fine  Old  English 
Gentleman,"  a  few  verses  of  which  will  show  its  quality.  Pike 
had  lived  a  varied  life,  especially  among  the  Indians  of  Arkan 
sas,  which  will  account  for  the  allusions  to  the  red  men : 

"  The  fine  Arkansas  gentleman  restored  to  life  once  more, 
Continued  to  enjoy  himself  as  he  had  done  before  ; 
And,  tired  of  civilized  pursuits,  concluded  he  would  go 
To  see  some  Indian  friends  he  had,  and  chase  the  buffalo. 

This  fine  Arkansas  gentleman, 

Who  died  before  his  time. 

"  The  rumor  of  his  visit  had  extended  far  and  near, 
And  distant  chiefs  and  warriors  came  with  bow  and  gun  and  spear ; 
So  when  he  reached  the  council-grounds,  with  much  delight  he  sees 
Delegations  from  the  Foxes,  Sioux,  Quapaws,  Blackfeet,  Pottawatomies, 
Gros  Ventres,  Arrapahoes,  Comanches,  Creeks,  Navajoes,  Choctaws, 
and  Cherokees. 

This  fine  Arkansas  gentleman,  etc. 

"  They  welcomed  him  with  all  the  sports  well  known  on  the  frontier, 
He  hunted  buffalo  and  elk,  and  lived  on  grouse  and  deer ; 
And  having  brought  his  stores  along,  he  entertained  each  chief 
With  best  Otard  and  whisky,  smoking  and  chewing  tobacco,  not  forgetting 
cards,  with  instructions  in  seven -up,  brag,  bluff,  and  was  whooped 
whoo-oo-ooo-oooped  till  he  was  deaf. 
This  fine  Arkansas  gentleman,  etc. 

"  He  went  to  sleep  among  these  friends,  in  huts  or  tents  of  skin, 
And  if  it  rained  or  hailed  or  snowed,  he  didn't  care  a  pin, 
For  he'd  lined  his  hide  with  whisky  and  a  brace  of  roasted  grouse, 
And  he  didn't  mind  the  weather  any  more  than  if  he  slept  in  a  four-story 
brown-stone  front,  tip  roof,  fire-proof  Fifth  Avenue  house. 
This  fine  Arkansas  gentleman,  etc. 

"  Now  while  he  was  enjoying  all  that  such  adventure  brings, 
The  chase  and  pipe  and  bottle,  and  such  like  forbidden  things, 
Some  spalpeen  of  an  editor,  the  Lord  had  made  in  vain, 
Inserted  in  his  horrible  accident  column,  among  murders,  robberies,  thefts, 
camphene    accidents,  collisions,  explosions,  defalcations,  seductions, 
abductions,  and  destructions,  under  a  splendid  black-bordered  notice, 
the  lamentable  news  that — he  was  dead  again. 
This  fine  Arkansas  gentleman,  etc. 


276  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

"  But  far  above  the  common  grief — though  he  was  good  as  gold — 
His  creditors,  like  Jacob's  wife,  refused  to  be  consoled ; 
They  granted  him  a  poet,  and  a  warrior,  if  you  will, 

But  said  they  had  extensive  experience  in  generals,  commodores,  orators, 
statesmen,  congressmen,  actors,  editors,  letter -writers,  route  agents, 
conductors,  and  other  public  characters  who — rarely  paid  a  bill. 
This  fine  Arkansas  gentleman,  etc. 

"  Behold,  in  this  excitement  our  distinguished  friend  arrived, 
We  'knew  from  a  remark  he  made'  that  he  was  still  alive  ; 
Then  every  journal  joyously  the  contradiction  quotes, 
The  tailors  take  his  measure,  and  the  banks  renew  his  notes. 
This  fine  Arkansas  gentleman,  etc." 

A  racy  song  in  such  a  voice  electrified  the  dead  man,  who 
woke  and  spoke  at  length,  and  in  part  as  follows  : 

"  If  any  of  us  have  unfortunately,  and  even  by  their  fault,  be 
come  estranged  from  old  friends,  and  if  in  this  circle  we  miss 
any  of  the  old  familiar  faces  that  were  once  welcomed  among 
us  with  delight,  surely  I  shall  not  be  deemed  to  tread  upon  for 
bidden  ground  if,  thinking  aloud,  I  murmur  that  at  some  time 
hereafter,  when  perhaps  it  is  too  late,  perhaps  not  until  the  por 
tals  of  another  life  open  to  us,  but  surely  then,  at  the  furthest, 
all  the  old  kindly  feelings  will  revive,  and  the  misunderstanding 
of  the  past  will  seem  to  have  been  only  unreal  shadows. 

"  Let  us  remember  that '  we  love  but  to  lose  those  we  love, 
and  to  see  the  grave-yards  become  populous  with  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  where  in  our  childhood  were  open  woods  or  cultivated 
fields;'  and  that  we  can  not  afford  to  lose  any  of  our  friends 
while  yet  they  live.  '  Every  where  around  us,  as  we  look  out 
into  the  night,  we  can  see  the  faces  of  those  we  have  loved,  and 
who  have  gone  away  before  us,  shining  upon  us  like  stars.' 
Alas  !  for  us,  if,  besides  these  that  we  have  lost,  there  are  other 
faces  of  the  living  looking  sadly  upon  us  out  of  the  darkness, 
regretting  that  they  too  could  not,  even  if  it  be  their  own  fault, 
have  been  with  us  here  to-night,  beaming  with  pleasure  and 
sympathy  as  of  yore.  Must  not  I,  at  least,  always  feel  how  true 


A    NIGHT   AT   JOHNNY    COYLE'S.  277 

it  is  that  if  men  were  perfect  they  might  respect  each  other 
more,  but  would  love  each  other  less  ?  and  that  we  love  our 
friend  more  for  his  weaknesses  and  failings,  which  we  must 
overlook  and  forgive,  than  for  his  rigid  virtues,  which  demand 
our  admiration  more  than  our  affection  ?  Let  the  memories  of 
the  dead  soften  our  feelings  toward  the  living,  and  while  by  expe 
rience  we  grow  in  knowledge,  let  us  also,  knowing  that  we  all  fall 
short  of  perfect  excellence,  grow  in  love — from  within,  like  the 
large  oaks,  as  well  as  from  without,  like  the  hard,  cold  crystals. 

"  I  submit  it  to  your  indulgence  to  decide  whether,  desiring 
to  be  at  peace  with  all  the  world  and  to  serve  my  fellows,  I  may 
not  be  forgiven  for  wishing  to  live  a  little  longer.  If  I  desired 
to  live  for  myself  alone,  the  judgment  rendered  against  me 
ought  to  be  affirmed.  In  that  case  I  would  already  have  lived 
too  long.  I  wish,  and  I  am  sure  we  all  wish,  to  work  for  the 
men  of  the  future,  as  the  men  of  the  past  have  lived  for  us,  and 
to  plant  the  acorns  from  which  shall  spring  the  oaks  that  shall 
shelter  those  who  will  live  after  we  are  dead.  It  is  as  natural 
as  to  enjoy  the  shade  of  those  our  fathers  planted. 

"  I  detain  you  too  long.  May  the  memory  of  each  of  you, 
when  it  comes  to  you  to  die,  be  as  kindly  cherished  and  as 
gently  dealt  with  as  mine  has  been  ;  and  if  you,  like  me,  should 
have  the  good  fortune  to  read  your  own  obituaries,  may  you 
have  as  good  cause  to  be  grateful  for  the  consequences  of  the 
mistake  as  I  have !  You  deserve  no  less  fortune,  and  I  could 
wish  you  none  better." 

Afterward  John  Savage  sung  Pike's  own  song  on  his  own  de 
mise,  in  a  noble  tenor,  a  strain  of  which  I  quote  : 

"  A  gentleman  from  Arkansas,  not  long  ago,  'tis  said, 
Waked  up  one  pleasant  morning  and  discovered  he  was  dead; 
He  was  on  his  way  to  Washington,  not  seeking  for  the  spoils, 
But  rejoicing  in  the  promise  of  a  night  at  Johnny  Coyle's. 

"  He  waked  and  found  himself  aboard  a  rickety  old  boat; 
Says  the  ferryman,  when  questioned, '  On  the  Styx  you  are  afloat.' 


278  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

'  What !  dead  ?'  said  he.     '  Indeed  you  are,'  the  grim  old  churl  replied. 
'  Why,  then,  I'll  miss  the  night  at  Coyle's,'  the  gentleman  replied. 

"  Old  Charon  ferried  him  across  the  dirty,  sluggish  tide, 
But  he  swore  he  would  not  tarry  long  upon  the  farther  side ; 
The  ancient  ghosts  came  flocking  round  upon  the  Stygian  shore  j 
1  But,'  said  he, '  excuse  me;   I  must  have  at  Coyle's  one  frolic  more.' 

"  He  crossed  the  adamantine  halls  and  reached  the  ebon  throne, 
Where  gloomy  Pluto  frowned,  and  where  his  queen's  soft  beauty  shone. 
'  What  want  you  here  ?'  the  monarch  said.    '  Your  Majesty,'  said  he, 
'  Permission  at  one  frolic  more  at  Johnny  Coyle's  to  be. 

fi '  'Tis  not  for  power  or  wealth  or  fame  I  hanker  to  return, 
Nor  that  love's  kisses  once  again  upon  my  lips  may  burn ; 
Let  me  but  once  more  meet  the  friends  that  long  have  been  so  dear, 
And  who,  if  I'm  not  there,  will  say,  "  Would  God  that  he  were  here  !"  ' 

"  '  If  it's  good  company  you  want,'  the  King  said,  'we've  the  best — 
Philosophers,  poets,  orators,  wits,  statesmen,  and  the  rest, 
The  courtiers  of  the  good  old  times,  the  gentlemen  most  rare.' 
Says  he, '  With  those  I'll  meet  at  Coyle's  your  folks  will  not  compare.' 

"  Says  the  King :  '  There's  Homer  here,  and  all  the  bards  of  ancient  Greece, 
And  the  chaps  that  sailed  away  so  far  to  fetch  the  Golden  Fleece; 
We've  Tully,  Horace,  and  Montaigne.'     Says  he, '  I'll  match  the  lot, 
If  you'll  let  me  go  to  Johnny  Coyle's  and  fetch  them  on  the  spot.' 

"  '  Enough  !'  old  Pluto  cried;  '  the  law  must  be  enforced.    'Tis  plain, 
If  with  those  fellows  once  you  get,  you'll  ne'er  return  again; 
One  night  would  not  content  you,  and  your  face  would  ne'er  be  seen, 
After  that  night  at  Johnny  Coyle's,  by  me  or  by  my  queen. 

"  '  And  if  all  these  fellows  came  at  once,  what  would  become  of  us  ? 
They'd  drown  old  Charon  in  the  Styx,  and  murder  Cerebus; 
Make  love  to  all  the  women  here,  and  even  to  my  wife; 
Drink  all  my  liquor  up,  and  be  the  torment  of  my  life.' " 

The  portraits  in  the  private  volume  before  me  of  the  chief 
actors  in  this  humorous  drama  are  preceded  by  that  of  Pike 
himself,  who  is  described  by  one  of  them,  Dr.  Shelton  Macken 
zie,  as  "  a  stalwart  figure,  large  and  lofty,  with  keen  eyes,  a  nose 
reminding  one  of  an  eagle's  beak,  a  noble  head  firmly  placed 
between  a  pair  of  massive  shoulders,  and  flowing  locks  nearly 


BEST-ABUSED    MEN.  279 

half  way  down  his  back."  He  may  be  seen  in  Washington  City 
any  day,  where  he  now  practices  his  profession,  in  company 
with  ex-Senator  R.  W.  Johnson,  of  Arkansas,  whose  fine  face 
smiles  upon  me  from  the  same  pages.  Here  we  have  Elias 
Rector,  the  famous  Indian  agent  of  the  same  State,  whose  life 
has  been  almost  as  romantic  as  that  of  Pike,  and  whose  con 
versation  was  as  unique  as  his  anecdotes  were  fresh ;  then  kind- 
hearted  Arnold  Harris,  of  Tennessee,  whose  well-remembered 
song,  "  Miss  Patsey,"  accompanied  by  his  odd  negro  dance,  re 
calls  his  features,  even  better  than  his  photograph,  from  beyond 
the  grave  ;  then  "  Father  "  Kingman,  the  rich  and  retired  "  Ion  " 
of  the  Baltimore  Sun;  then  Alexander  Dimitry, "  that  peripa 
tetic  encyclopedia,"  says  Dr.  Mackenzie,  "  who  is  popularly  be 
lieved  to  have  intimate  acquaintance  with  all  the  dead  lan 
guages,  and  also  with  the  tongues  of  nearly  every  undiscovered 
country  in  the  world.  He  translates  their  books,  he  speaks 
their  tongues,  he  knows  the  variety  of  their  dialects,  he  remem 
bers  their  ballads,  and  sings  them  splendidly,  occasionally  trans 
lating  them  into  good  Anglo-Saxon  verse  for  the  benefit  of  the 
unlearned.  I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  ore  rotunda  swell  of  his 
organ-like  tones,  deep  and  resonant  as  those  which  Lablache 
used  to  pour  out  from  his  capacious  chest."  There  are  many 
more  of  these  portraits,  but  these  will  suffice  to  give  some  idea 
of  the  pleasant  and  profitable  pastimes  of  the  men  of  thought 
and  action  at  the  nation's  capital  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  years  ago. 

[February  4,  1872.] 


LVII. 

Is  it  not  true  that  the  public  men  best  abused  are  the  best 
remembered  ?  Certainly  Andrew  Jackson  looms  up  through 
all  the  mists  and  misrepresentations  of  the  past  like  a  great 


280  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

statue  founded  as  if  to  last  forever.  Witness  the  tribute  paid 
to  his  memory  by  Henry  A.  Wise  in  his  just-published  book — 
a  book  bitter  enough  as  regards  Benton  and  others,  but  abound 
ing  in  compliments  to  the  hero  President,  of  whom  Wise,  during 
his  early  career  in  Congress,  was  perhaps  the  most  violent 
assailant.  Witness,  also,  the  extraordinary  memoir  of  James 
Parton,  the  most  caustic  and  remorseless  of  critics.  Never 
shall  I  forget  the  eulogy  of  George  Bancroft,  pronounced  twen 
ty-six  years  ago,  while  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under 
President  Polk,  after  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Jackson  had 
been  received  in  Washington.  The  affluence  of  genius  never 
produced  a  more  exquisite  offspring.  The  rapidity  with  which  it 
was  prepared,  the  fervor  with  which  it  was  pronounced,  and  its 
effect  upon  the  public  mind,  excited  the  wonder  and  delight  of 
the  followers  of  Old  Hickory ;  and  if  you  turn  to  it  now  you 
will  find  it  surpassed  by  nothing  in  the  interesting  volume  which 
preserves  the  "Jackson  Obsequies."  At  the  end  of  nearly  a 
generation,  we  find  the  ardent  expressions  of  a  partisan  Cabinet 
Minister  equaled  by  the  more  deliberate  praise  of  former  polit 
ical  adversaries.  Why  is  this  ?  Simply  because  Andrew  Jack 
son's  inspiration  through  his  whole  life  was  a  passionate  love 
of  the  Union — a  fixed  and  even  ferocious  determination  to  put 
down  its  enemies  at  whatever  hazard  or  cost.  Henry  Clay  and 
Daniel  Webster  live  in  the  affections  of  posterity  more  because 
they  were  animated  by  the  same  principle,  than  because  of  the 
fame  of  the  one  as  an  orator  and  the  other  as  a  statesman  and 
jurist.  They  forgot  party  when  their  country  was  in  peril,  bury^ 
ing  or  postponing  animosities  as  against  even  their  severest  foe, 
Andrew  Jackson,  when  he  struck  the  key-note  and  declared 
that  "  the  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved."  Something 
like  this  was  the  scene  between  George  Wolf  and  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  some  thirty-six  years  ago,  when  in  the  midst  of  the 
anti-Masonic  excitement  which  Stevens  headed  against  Wolf, 
Dallas,  Rev.  Mr.  Sprole,  and  other  Masonic  dignitaries — even 


OLD    HICKORY.  28 1 

to  the  extent  of  threatening  them  with  imprisonment — Wolf  and 
Stevens  forgot  their  envenomed  quarrel  in  the  ardor  with  which 
they  together  pressed  forward  the  great  cause  of  popular  edu 
cation.  No  name  can  perish  from  memory  or  history  that  is 
truly  identified  with  civilization  and  liberty.  I  was  talking  of 
these  things  the  other  day  with  an  old  Ohio  Whig,  at  present  a 
Republican,  when  he  related  an  anecdote  of  Old  Hickory  which 
I  had  never  heard  before,  and  which  I  think  worth  preserving. 
After  Jackson's  first  election  in  1828,  a  strong  effort  was  made 

to  remove  General ,  an  old  Revolutionary  soldier,. at  that 

time  postmaster  in  one  of  the  principal  New  York  towns.  He 
had  been  so  fierce  an  Adams  man  that  the  Jackson  men  deter 
mined  to  displace  him.  He  was  no  stranger  to  Jackson,  who 
knew  him  well,  and  was  conscious  of  his  private  worth  and  public 
services ;  but  as  the  effort  to  get  his  place  was  a  determined 
one,  General resolved  to  undertake  a  journey  to  Washing 
ton  for  the  purpose  of  looking  after  his  case.  Silas  Wright  had 
just  left  his  seat  as  a  Representative  in  Congress  from  New 
York.  Never  was  the  Empire  State  more  ably  represented. 
Cool,  honest,  profound,  and  subtle,  Mr.  Wright  was  precisely 
the  man  to  head  a  movement  against  the  old  postmaster.  His 
influence  with  Jackson  was  boundless.  His  force  in  debate 
made  him  a  match  for  the  giants  themselves  ;  and  as  Mr.  Van 
Buren  was  then  Jackson's  Secretary  of  State,  the  combination 
was  powerful.  The  old  postmaster,  knowing  that  these  two 
political  masters  were  against  him,  called  upon  the  President 
immediately  upon  his  arrival,  and  was  most  courteously  received 
and  requested  to  call  again,  which  he  did  several  times,  but 
nothing  was  said  about  the  post-office.  Finally  the  politicians 
finished  their  protest,  and  sent  it  forward  to  Mr.  Wright,  with 
the  request  that  it  should  be  delivered  at  the  first  opportunity. 
The  old  postmaster  heard  from  his  friends  at  home  that  the 
important  document  was  on  its  way,  so  he  resolved  on  a  coup 
de  main.  The  next  day  there  was  a  Presidential  reception,  and 


282  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

among  the  early  visitors  was  General .     After  a  cordial 

greeting  by  Jackson,  he  quietly  took  his  seat,  and  waited  until 
the  long  train  of  visitors  had  duly  saluted  the  nation's  Chief 
and  passed  through  the  grand  East  Room  on  their  way  home. 
The  President  turned  to  his  venerable  guest  with  some  surprise 
as  he  noticed  him  still  seated  on  one  of  the  sofas,  and  entered 
into  familiar  conversation  with  him,  when,  to  his  amazement, 
the  old  soldier  said,  "  General  Jackson,  I  have  come  here  to 
talk  to  you  about  my  office.  The  politicians  want  to  take  it 
from  me,  and  they  know  I  have  nothing  else  to  live  upon." 
The  President  made  no  reply,  till  the  aged  postmaster  began 
to  take  off  his  coat  in  the  most  excited  manner,  when  Old  Hick 
ory  broke  out  with  the  inquiry  :  "  What  in  Heaven's  name  are 
you  going  to  do  ?  Why  do  you  take  off  your  coat  in  this  public 
place  ?"  "  Well,  sir,  I  am  going  to  show  you  my  wounds,  which 
I  received  in  fighting  for  my  country  against  the  English !" 
"  Put  it  on  at  once,  sir  !"  was  the  reply  ;  "  I  am  surprised  that 
a  man  of  your  age  should  make  such  an  exhibition  of  himself," 
and  the  eyes  of  the  iron  President  were  suffused  with  tears,  as 
without  another  word  he  bade  his  ancient  foe  good-evening. 
The  very  next  night  the  crafty  and  able  New  York  politician 
called  at  the  White  House  and  sent  in  his  card.  He  was  im 
mediately  ushered  into  the  presence,  and  found  Jackson,  in 
loose  gown  and  slippers,  seated  before  a  blazing  wood  fire,  qui 
etly  smoking  his  long  pipe.  After  the  ordinary  courtesies  had 
been  exchanged,  the  politician  opened  his  budget.  He  repre 
sented  the  district  from  which  the  venerable  postmaster  hailed  ; 
said  the  latter  had  been  known  as  a  very  active  advocate  of 
John  Quincy  Adams  ;  that  he  had  literally  forfeited  his  place 
by  his  earnest  opposition  to  the  Jackson  men,  and  that  if  he 
were  not  removed,  the  new  Administration  would  be  seriously 
injured.  He  had  hardly  finished  the  last  sentence,  when  Jack 
son  sprung  to  his  feet,  flung  his  pipe  into  the  fire,  and  exclaimed, 
with  great  vehemence,  "  I  take  the  consequences,  sir ;  I  take 


s.  s.  cox.  283 

the  consequences.  By  the  Eternal !  -I  will  not  remove  the  old 
man — I  can  not  remove  him.  Why,  Mr.  Wright,  do  you  not 
know  that  he  carries  more  than  a  pound  of  British  lead  in  his 
body  ?"  That  was  the  last  of  it.  He  who  was  stronger  than 
courts,  courtiers,  or  cabinets,  pronounced  his  fiat,  and  the 
happy  old  postmaster  next  day  took  the  stage  and  returned 
home  rejoicing. 

[February  n,  1872.] 


LVIII. 

WHILE  I  was  editor  of  the  Washington  Union,  under  the  ad 
ministration  of  President  Pierce,  a  very  interesting  incident 
took  place  at  a  dinner  at  my  former  residence,  now  the  Census 
Bureau,  on  Eighth  Street,  near  F.  It  was  attended  by  a  num 
ber  of  the  Democratic  leaders,  including  John  C.  Breckinridge, 
of  Kentucky,  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  of  South  Carolina,  Jesse  D. 
Bright,  of  Indiana,  John  Slidell,  of  Louisiana,  and  several  whose 
names  I  can  not  remember.  Hon.  Samuel  S.  Cox,  then  a  very 
young  man,  just  known  for  his  book,  "  The  Buckeye  Abroad," 
and  for  his  talents  as  an  occasional  lecturer,  was  among  the 
guests,  and  did  me  the  honor  to  write  an  editorial  against  the 
Know-Nothings — the  proof  of  which  was  sent  to  us  while  we 
were  at  the  table,  and  read  aloud  for  the  general  delectation. 
Mr.  Keitt  was  full  of  humor,  and  took  special  delight  in  teasing 
Mr.  Breckinridge  by  his  raillery  of  the  Kentuckians — their  pe 
culiar  habits  and  ideas.  The  retort  of  Breckinridge  was  re 
called  to  me  the  other  evening  at  the  reporters'  banquet  in 
Washington  by  Mr.  Cox,  who,  after  having  been  appointed  Sec 
retary  of  Legation  to  Peru,  in  1855,  was  chosen  a  Representa 
tive  in  Congress  from  Ohio  for  three  successive  terms,  and  then, 
on  his  removal  to  the  city  of  New  York,  chosen  several  terms 


284  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

to  the  same  body,  in  which  he  now  figures  as  one  of  the  ablest 
advocates  of  the  Democratic  party.  Breckinridge  wittily  de 
scribed  a  recent  trip  to  South  Carolina,  and  his  meeting  with 
several  of  the  original  Secessionists — one  of  them  a  militia  offi 
cer  in  Keitt's  district,  who  had  just  returned  from  a  training, 
clothed  in  faded  regimentals,  with  a  huge  trooper's  sword  at  his 
side,  and  a  chapeau  surmounted  with  a  very  long  plume.  He 
was  full  of  enthusiasm  for  "  the  cause,"  and  descanted  with  par 
ticular  eloquence  upon  what  he  called  the  wrongs  of  the  South. 
"  I  tell  you,  sah,  we  can  not  stand  it  any  longer ;  we  intend  to 
fight ;  we  are  preparing  to  fight ;  it  is  impossible,  sah,  that  we 
should  submit,  sah,  even  for  an  additional  hour,  sah."  "  And 
from  what  are  you  suffering?"  quietly  asked  Breckinridge. 
"  Why,  sah,  we  are  suffering  under  the  oppressions  of  the  Fed 
eral  Government.  We  have  been  suffering  under  it  for  thirty 
years,  and  will  stand  it  no  more."  "  Now,"  said  Breckinridge, 
turning  to  Keitt,  "  I  would  advise  my  young  friend  here  to  in 
vite  some  of  his  constituents,  before  undertaking  the  war,  upon 
a  tour  through  the  North,  if  only  for  the  purpose  of  teaching 
them  what  an  almighty  big  country  they  will  have  to  whip  be 
fore  they  get  through !"  The  effect  was  irresistible,  and  the 
impulsive  but  really  kind-hearted  South  Carolina  Hotspur 
joined  in  the  loud  laughter  excited  by  Breckinridge's  retort. 
Somehow  the  name  of  Baker  is  always  associated  in  my  mind 
with  that  of  Breckinridge.  You  have  not  forgotten  my  descrip 
tion  of  the  thrilling  scene  between  these  two  men,  after  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States — the 
eloquent  attack  of  Breckinridge  upon  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  magnetic  reply  of  Baker,  who  had  just 
come  in  from  his  camp  in  time  to  hear  the  outburst  of  the  Ken- 
tuckian,  and  to  answer  it  on  the  spot  with  such  overwhelming 
force.  He  was  killed  in  one  of  the  Virginia  battles,  October 
21,  1861,  and  on  the  28th  of  that  month  I  reproduced  in  an 
"  Occasional"  letter  one  of  his  fugitive  poems,  which  is  so  beau- 


PROPHETIC    POETRY.  285 

tiful,  and  the  last  verse  of  which  applies  so  strikingly  to  his 
untimely  death,  that  I  copy  it  here : 

"TO  A  WAVE. 
"Dost  thou  seek  a  star  with  thy  swelling  crest, 

0  wave,  that  leavest  thy  mother's  breast  ? 
Dost  thou  leap  from  the  prisoned  depths  below 
In  scorn  of  their  calm  and  constant  flow  ? 

Or  art  thou  seeking  some  distant  land, 
To  die  in  murmurs  upon  the  strand  ? 

"  Hast  thou  tales  to  tell  of  the  pearl-lit  deep, 
Where  the  wave-whelmed  mariner  rocks  in  sleep  ? 
Canst  thou  speak  of  navies  that  sunk  in  pride 
Ere  the  roll  of  their  thunder  in  echo  died  ? 
What  trophies,  what  banners,  are  floating  free 
In  the  shadowy  depths  of  that  silent  sea  ? 

"  It  were  vain  to  ask,  as  thou  rollest  afar, 
Of  banner  or  mariner,  ship  or  star  : 
It  were  vain  to  seek  in  thy  stormy  face 
Some  tale  of  the  sorrowful  past  to  trace ; 
Thou  art  swelling  high,  thou  art  flashing  free, 
How  vain  are  the  questions  we  ask  of  thee. 

"  I  too  am  a  wave  on  the  stormy  sea ; 

1  too  am  a  wanderer,  driven  like  thee  ; 
I  too  am  seeking  a  distant  land, 

To  be  lost  and  gone  ere  I  reach  the  strand — 

For  the  land  I  seek  is  a  waveless  shore, 

And  those  who  once  reach  it  shall  wander  no  more." 

[February  18,  1872.] 


LIX. 

SHORTLY  after  my  return  from  Europe,  in  1867,  I  met  the 
present  Chief  Justice  Cartter  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  and  Hon.  John  M.  Thayer,  then  Senator  in 


286  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

Congress  from  Nebraska,  corner  of  Tenth  and  Pennsylvania 
Avenue.  Andrew  Johnson  was  doing  his  level  best  to  destroy 
the  Republican  party,  and  the  chief  hope  of  patriots  and  politi 
cians  was  a  Republican  candidate  for  President  who  could  se 
cure  a  majority  of  electoral  votes.  Johnson  had  so  utterly  de 
moralized  politics  as  to  make  it  an  even  chance  whether  the 
Republicans' could  elect  anybody.  He  had  consolidated  the 
South  against  us,  and  had  corrupted  enough  of  the  North  to 
render  it  exceedingly  doubtful  whether  a  Republican  successor 
could  be  elected  with  the  power  of  the  National  Government 
against  him.  He  came  into  the  Presidency  under  tragic  cir 
cumstances,  and  his  plans  were  so  well  laid  that  if  our  institu 
tions  had  not  been  singularly  elastic,  and  our  people  intensely 
patriotic,  he  would  have  undoubtedly  transferred  the  Govern 
ment  to  the  hands  of  those  who  rushed  to  arms  to  destroy  it. 
I  saw  enough  after  he  had  rejoined  the  Democrats — after  he 
had  yielded  to  the  rebel  element — to  convince  me  that  unless 
we  could  secure  some  good  strong  name  the  Republican  party 
was  bankrupt.  And  there  was  a  vast  deal  in  Johnson's  theo 
ry  to  captivate  Republicans  as  strong  as  Doolittle,  of  Wiscon 
sin,  Cowan,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Foster,  of  Connecticut.  Aid 
ed  by  that  extraordinary  intellect,  William  H.  Seward,  Johnson 
made  the  most  decided  onset  against  the  Republican  party  that 
has  ever  been  or  ever  can  be  made.  Full  of  these  apprehen 
sions,  there  was  something  of  a  coincidence  when  I  met  Justice 
Cartter  and  Senator  Thayer,  and  was  not  much  surprised  when 
they  said,  "Why  can  we  not  make  General  Grant  the  Republican 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  ? — every  body  is  for  him  ;  his  star 
is  the  star  of  victory.  There  are  two  things  necessary — his  own 
consent  and  an  approved  Republican  recqrd.  Now,  will  you  not 
apply  yourself  to  a  thorough  examination  into  the  political  dec 
larations  of  Grant  since  he  left  Galena  as  a  volunteer  against 
the  rebellion  ?"  I  answered  with  perfect  frankness,  "  that  I  had 
had  quite  enough  to  do  with  making  Presidents.  I  had  assist- 


GENERAL   GRANT'S    NOMINATION.  287 

ed  somewhat  in  the  election  of  James  Buchanan  in  1856,  and 
had  contributed  to  the  nomination  of  Andrew  Johnson  as  the 
Republican  candidate  for  Vice-President  in  1864 ;  and  that, 
with  my  experience  of  public  men  generally,  I  did  not  feel  war 
ranted  to  undertake  such  a  task;"  but  the  earnest  appeals  of 
my  good  friends  prevailed,  and  I  retired  to  my  rooms  on  Capi 
tol  Hill,  and  prepared  the  five-column  article  which  appeared  in 
the  Washington  Chronicle  and  the  Philadelphia  Press  of  Novem 
ber  7,  1867.  After  it  was  in  type,  Senator  Thayer  and  myself 
called  upon  John  A.  Rawlins,  Chief  of  General  Grant's  staff, 
and  read  it  to  him.  He  instantly  advised  that  it  should  appear 
the  very  next  day;  but  I  answered  that  "General  Grant  was  not 
a  candidate  for  President,  and  did  not  desire  to  be,  and  if  I 
printed  it  without  authority,  there  was  little  doubt  that  some  su- 
perserviceable  politician  would  call  upon  him  and  ask  him 
if  he  had  been  made  a  candidate  with  his  sanction.  He  will, 
of  course,  reply  that  he  never  saw  the  article  till  it  was  in  print, 
and  so  all  your  schemes  to  make  him  President  will  gang  a 
gley"  Then  Rawlins  took  it  in  to  General  Grant,  and  stayed 
a  long  time.  When  he  returned  he  said,  "  General  Grant  is 
quite  pleased  with  your  statement  of  his  political  record,  and 
surprised  that  he  proves  to  be  so  good  a  Republican."  Upon 
this  hint  I  printed.  But  this  is  not  the  real  point.  My  misgiv 
ings  were  correct;  for  on  that  very  day  an  elaborate  dispatch 
was  sent  from  Washington  to  the  Boston  Post,  stating  that  "a  dis 
tinguished  friend  of  General  Grant  had  called  upon  him  with 
the  article,  and  inquired  if  it  met  his  approval  or  was  published 
with  his  sanction.  He  promptly  denied  all  knowledge  of  the 
publication,  and  expressed  his  indignation  at  the  liberty  taken 
by  his  self-styled  friend  who  had  concocted  the  article  in  ques 
tion.  In  speaking  of  the  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne,  who  would  like 
to  be  considered  the  conscience-keeper  and  guardian  of  Gen 
eral  Grant,  the  latter  expressed  his  detestation  of  Mr.  Wash- 
burne's  patronizing  airs,  and  said  he  could  not  understand  why 


288  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

he  was  so  constantly  annoyed  by  his  presence,  as  he  had  never 
known  Mr.  Washburne  before  the  war,  and  that  Mr.  Washburne 
knew  quite  as  little  of  him."  The  dispatch  concluded  as  follows  : 

"The  report  of  the  conversation  I  obtained  directly  from  Gen 
eral  Grant's  friend,  with  full  permission  to  publish  the  same,  that 
the  country  may  know  how  far  the  Radicals  are  authorized  to 
shelter  themselves  from  the  storm  under  General  Grant's  wing." 

I  immediately  telegraphed  to  Washington,  and  got  the  follow 
ing  authorized  contradiction  of  the  dispatch  in  the  Boston  Post: 

"  General  Grant  expressed  neither  indignation  nor  annoyance 
at  the  appearance  of  the  article  in  The  Chronicle  and  The  Press, 
nor  did  he  intimate  to  any  one  that  it  misrepresented  his  polit 
ical  position.  As  to  the  remarks  attributed  to  him  relative  to 
Mr.  Washburne,  they  are  so  palpably  untrue  as  to  stamp  the 
character  of  the  entire  dispatch.  General  Grant  has  never  ut 
tered  a  word  against  Mr.  Washburne  which  could  have  afforded 
the  slightest  foundation  for  these  atrocious  statements.  Gen 
eral  Rawlins  says  that  the  sentiments  attributed  to  General 
Grant  in  The  Chronicle  are  undoubtedly  those  he  has  held,  and 
holds  still,  and  he  asserts  unequivocally  that  the  italicized 
words,  introducing  his  own  words,  are  true." 

When  Rawlins  came  back  from  General  Grant  with  the  edito 
rial,  he  told  us  with  great  emphasis,  "  General  Grant  does  not 
want  to  be  President.  He  thinks  the  Republican  party  may 
need  him,  and  he  believes,  as  their  candidate,  he  can  be  elect 
ed  and  re-elected ;  but,"  said  Rawlins,  "what  is  to  become  of 
him  after  his  second  Presidential  term — what,  indeed,  during 
his  administration  ?  He  is  receiving  from  seventeen  to  twenty 
thousand  dollars  a  year  as  General  of  the  armies  of  the  Repub 
lic — a  life  salary.  To  go  into  the  Presidency  at  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  eight  years  is,  perhaps,  to  gain 
more  fame;  but  what  is  to  become  of  him  at  the  end  of  his 
Presidency?  He  is  not  a  politician.  He  does  not  aspire  to 
the  place.  Eight  years  from  the  4th  of  March,  1869,  he  will 


POLITICAL    CANDIDATURE.  289 

be  about  fifty-six  years  old.     Of  course  he  must  spend  his  sal 
ary  as  President.     England,  with  her  Wellington,  her  Nelson, 
and  her  other  heroes  on  land  and  sea,  has  never  hesitated  to 
enrich  and  ennoble  them  through  all  their  posterity.     Such  a 
policy  is  in  accordance  with  the  character  of  the  English  gov 
ernment,  but  in  our  country  the  man  who  fights  for  and  saves 
the  Republic  would  be  a  beggar  if  he  depended  upon  political 
office  ;  and  mark  it,  if  Grant  takes  any  thing  from  the  rich, 
whose  vast  fortunes  he  has  saved,  after  he  is  President,  he  will 
be  accused  as  the  willing  recipient  of  gifts."     Just  now,  when 
General  Grant  is  struggling  out  of  his  first  term  of  the  Presi 
dency  and  struggling  into  his  second,  I  thought  it  might  not  be 
out  of  place  to  revive  this  incident.     Is  it  not  true  that  when 
we  elect  a  man  to  office  we  at  the  same  time  unconsciously  en 
courage  others  to  tear  him  to  pieces  ?     What  public  character 
can  escape  investigation?     What  public  character  can  escape 
calumny?     Our  best  candidates  for  office  are  not  saints — our 
best  Representatives  and  Senators  in  Congress  are  not  divini 
ties.     I  have  shown  that  even  President  Washington  when  he 
closed  his  second  term  was  regarded  as  an  usurper,  and  the  end 
of  his  administration  declared  a  great  national  relief.     Please 
understand  that  in  selecting  this  incident  I  am  simply  trying  to 
show  my  countrymen  that  if  we  establish  an  angelic  standard 
for  our  public  men,  we  are  not  only  sure  to  fail,  but  perhaps  to 
end  in  making  an  hereditary  monarchy  necessary  to  govern  and 
subdue  a  dissatisfied  people. 

Poor  Rawlins  did  not  live  long  after  his  friend  was  made 
President.  I  was  one  of  the  last  he  recognized.  No  knight 
of  the,  days  of  chivalry  surpassed  him  in  integrity  of  soul  and 
nobility  of  nature.  He  was  an  original  Douglas  Democrat,  but 
no  man  was  more  truly  influenced  by  the  conscience  of  the 
fight,  and  none  was  ever  called  before  his  Creator  with  a  more 
spotless  character — public  and  private. 

[February  25,  1872.] 

N 


290  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 


LX. 

Is  there  such  a  thing  as  unconscious  courage  ?  Of  bravery 
against  volition  ?  A  coward  will  fight  for  his  life  ;  but  I  know 
a  case  where  a  single  man  routed  a  large  armed  force  while  he 
was  in  a  tremor  of  fear.  The  death  of  General  Andrew  Porter, 
U.  S.  A.,  at  Paris,  France,  a  few  weeks  ago,  recalled  the  story, 
and  I  tell  it  as  it  fell  from  the  lips  of  one  of  my  old  transcribing 
clerks  in  Washington  eighteen  years  ago — the  popular  and  witty 
Dr.  W.  P.  Reyburn,  of  New  Orleans.  He  was  a  surgeon  in  a 
Louisiana  regiment  during  the  Mexican  war,  and  a  close  friend 
of  Andrew  Porter,  one  of  the  captains  in  the  Mounted  Rifles, 
and,  if  I  mistake  not,  attached  to  that  celebrated  corps.  He 
was  hand-in-glove  with  all  the  Southern  notables,  a  welcome 
visitor  at  every  social  circle — a  fellow  of  quick  wit,  with  a  con 
tagious  laugh,  fond  of  pleasure  of  every  kind,  and,  to  complete 
the  picture,  a  very  fat  man,  who  loved  his  leisure  and  his  friends, 
and  hated  work  consumedly.  He  is  dead,  too;  but  I  often 
think  of  him  rolling  into  my  room  on  his  short  legs,  with  his 
broad  face  aglow,  his  large  mouth  streaming  with  tobacco,  full 
of  some  quaint  story,  which  he  would  relate,  till  every  body 
roared  with  the  merriment  he  always  started  in  his  explosive 
way_fairly  screaming  over  his  own  fun.  One  of  these  inci 
dents,  and  one  of  the  best,  was  the  way  he  charged  and  dis 
persed  a  squadron  of  Mexican  rancheros.  I  have  seen  a  room 
ful  of  celebrities  enjoying  this  really  original  story,  as  thus  told 
by  my  departed  friend :  "  You  will  all  recollect  that  Andy  Por 
ter's  company  of  mounted  rifles  was  detailed  as  the  escort  of 
the  American  commissioners,  who  were  to  carry  the  treaty  of 
Guadaloupe-Hidalgo  from  the  city  of  Mexico,  then  occupied  by 
the  victorious  American  forces,  under  General  Winfield  Scott, 
to  the  city  of  Queretaro,  for  ratification  by  the  Mexican  govern 
ment,  which,  driven  out  of  their  capital,  had  taken  up  its  quar- 


ADVENTURE    IN    MEXICO.  291 

ters  in  that  city.  Among  these  commissioners  were  Ambrose 
H.  Sevier,  of  Arkansas,  and  Nathan  Clifford,  of  Maine  [at  pres 
ent  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States].  We 
had  whipped  the  Mexicans,  taken  their  fortresses,  subdued  their 
country.  That  magnificent  empire  lay  at  our  feet.  We  ought 
to  have  gobbled  it  then,  as  we  shall  have  to  absorb  it  hereafter. 
The  war  was  over,  but  the  entire  country  was  swept  by  preda 
tory  parties,  and  no  American  was  safe  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
city  of  Mexico.  The  route  from  the  capital  to  Queretaro,  dis 
tant  some  sixty  or  eighty  miles,  was  beset  by  guerrillas,  and  the 
commissioners,  with  their  attendants,  occupying  several  hand 
some  coaches,  drawn  by  fine  horses,  could  not  proceed  on  their 
errand  without  due  military  escort.  Captain  Andy  Porter  was, 
as  I  have  said,  in  command,  and  I  was  selected  as  surgeon,  no 
doubt  because  I  liked  him  and  he  liked  me.  Before  starting, 
a  very  fine-looking  filly  was  set  apart  for  me ;  for  you  must  rec 
ollect,  gentlemen,  that  we  laid  under  contribution  the  best  ani 
mals  the  vicinage  could  afford.  I  am  fond  of  a  good  horse,  and 
you  can  imagine  my  displeasure  when  I  saw  the  animal  that 
had  been  assigned  me  was  considered  too  light  by  the  owner, 
who  came  to  me,  saying:  'Dr.  Reyburn,  you  have  a  long  jour 
ney  before  you,  and  would  not  like  to  find  your  horse  lame.  I 
have,  therefore,  brought  with  me  a  handsome  roadster,  capable 
of  carrying  you  comfortably.  As  I  am  the  owner  of  both,  and 
as  you  would  be  certain  to  destroy  the  filly  by  your  heavy 
weight,  without  helping  yourself,  why  not  take  the  easy  and  safe 
roadster,  and  therefore  subserve  your  own  comfort  and  my  in 
terests  ?'  Captivated  by  the  candor  of  my  friend,  and  not  know 
ing  that  his  only  object  was  selfish,  and,  above  all,  not  knowing 
that  the  roadster,  as  he  called  it,  had  been  an  old  campaigner, 
I  gladly  mounted  him,  and  the  cortege  proceeded  on  its  way, 
headed  by  Captain  Porter.  It  was  a  beautiful  day,  and  our 
course  ran  through  a  picturesque  country.  The  commissioners 
were  happy,  the  command  in  good  order,  the  surgeon  (that  is 


292  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

myself)  in  the  rear— none  happier  than  our  gallant  leader,  and 
none  more  perfectly  at  ease  than  myself.  But  you  must  rec 
ollect,  gentlemen,  that  I  make  no  professions  to  intrepidity ; 
the  fact  is,  I  suspect  I  am  a  coward;  at  any  rate,  I  always  kept 
myself  in  the  rear  of  my  valor.  In  the  midst  of  our  pleasant 
ries  we  heard  the  ring  of  the  bugle  in  the  front,  then  the  quiet 
roll  of  drums,  and  now  and  then  a  dropping  shot.  I,  of  course, 
regarded  this  as  among  the  pyrotechnics  of  the  journey;  but  as 
the  noise  proceeded  I  felt  a  quick  tremor  of  my  horse,  and  no 
ticed  a  strange  movement  of  his  ears,  till  at  last  the  firing  be 
came  more  brisk,  and  the  roll  of  the  drums  and  the  blasts  of 
the  bugle  more  frequent,  when  he  became  ungovernable,  until  I 
lost  all  control,  and  he  burst  ahead  with  me,  past  the  commis 
sioners,  past  the  escort,  past  the  gallant  Captain  Andrew  Por 
ter—when,  to  my  horror,  I  found  stretched  across  the  road  a 
large  body  of  Mexicans,  arms  in  hand,  resolved  to  dispute  our 
passage.  You  may  well  imagine  my  consternation, 
"  '  Never  having  set  a  squadron  in  the  field, 
Nor  the  division  of  a  battle  knew, 
More  than  a  spinster  !' 

Conceive  my  feelings  when  I  saw  myself,  single-handed  and 
alone,  without  an  effort  of  my  own,  and  certainly  without  my 
consent,  facing  the  enemies  of  my  country ;  yet  judge  of  my  re 
lief  when,  supposing  me  to  be  the  advanced  guard  of  a  charging 
column,  they  divided  on  both  sides  of  the  road  and  fled  up  the 
hills,  leaving  our  way  unobstructed.  I  never  was  in  the  same 
danger  before,  and  yet  I  can  not  express  to  you  my  relief  at  the 
escape  when,  drawing  in  my  veteran  charger,  he  having  accom 
plished  his  work,  I  quietly  turned  back  to  the  escort,  feeling 
somewhat  like  an  unconscious  conqueror,  yet  unprepared  for 
the  salute  I  received  from  my  good  Captain  Andrew  Porter, 
who  was  scarcely  able  to  articulate  between  his  amusement  at 
my  unexpected  courage  and  his  rage  at  the  loss  of  a  chance  to 
distinguish  himself.  'What,  in  God's  name,  did  you  mean? 


THE    WAR-HORSE.  293 

Why,  sir,  did  you  dare  to  leave  your  position  in  the  rear  and 
attack  the  enemy  in  the  front  ?  Who  gave  you  orders  to  charge  ? 
Are  you  aware  that  you  spoiled  a  fine  chance  for  my  men  to 
unload  their  muskets,  and  to  rid  the  road  of  a  set  of  infernal 
scoundrels  who  are  violating  the  truce  between  two  nations  ?' 
'  Well,  sir,'  was  my  respectful  reply  to  my  good  friend  Andy, 
'  all  I  have  to  say  in  self-defense  is,  that  you  must  not  accuse 
me  of  courage;  I  make  no  pretensions  to  it;  I  am  not  a  fight 
ing  man;  I  am  simply  Doctor  Reyburn,  of  New  Orleans;  and 
if  I  have  shown  any  thing  like  pluck  on  this  occasion,  you  must 
attribute  it  to  the  infernal  Mexican  who  was  afraid  to  allow  me 
the  use  of  his  good  horse,  and  who  put  upon  me  an  old  cavalry 
charger,  without  giving  me  notice  in  advance  that  he  would  be 
sure  to  respond  to  the  first  bugle  call  or  rouse  at  the  first  tap 
of  a  drum.' "  You  may  imagine,  for  I  can  not  describe,  the 
effect  of  this  story  told  by  the  genial,  generous,  frank-hearted 
Southerner,  himself  punctuating  his  points  by  his  own  laughter, 
and  therefore  awakening  the  merriment  of  all  who  heard  him. 

[March  3,  1872.] 


LXI. 

"  MOST  history  is  false,  save  in  name  and  dates,  while  a  good 
novel  is  generally  a  truthful  picture  of  real  life,  false  only  in 
names  and  dates."  I  often  think  of  this  sensible  remark  of  a 
veteran  statesman,  now  in  Europe,  as  I  glance  into  the  pages 
of  some  of  the  numberless  volumes  born  during  and  since  the 
rebellion.  Many  of  their  writers  seem  to  have  no  other  object 
than  to  make  gods  of  their  favorites  and  devils  of  their  adversa 
ries.  Perhaps  there  can  be  no  true  philosophy  of  that  tragic 
interval.  Passion  and  prejudice  have  given  way  before  judicial 
impartiality  and  tranquil  reflection.  Carlyle's  "  French  Revo- 


294  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

lution"  of  1793,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  that  strange 
man's  productions,  as  wonderful  for  its  flashes  of  individual 
character  as  for  its  accuracy  in  describing  events,  was  made  up 
from  personal  investigation  and  from  a  careful  review  of  the 
journals  of  the  day.  It  inspired  Dickens's  "Tale  of  Two 
Cities,"  one  of  the  most  grotesque  and  thrilling  of  all  his  crea 
tions.  Exactly  such  a  mind  is  required  to  give  us  a  faithful 
picture  of  the  inner  life  of  the  rebellion.  There  are  several 
collections  of  the  newspapers  of  both  sides,  one  that  was  pre 
served  for  some  years  in  the  National  Library,  and,  I  think,  one 
or  two  in  New  York  and  Boston.  Add  to  these  the  letters  of 
private  soldiers  to  their  families  at  home,  thousands  of  which 
are  laid  away  for  reference.  But  who  will  distill  the  essence 
from  this  mass  of  material?  Who  will  digest  the  endless  col 
lection?  It  should  be  a  patriotic  and  laborious  man,  a  stu~ 
dent  like  Carlyle,  blessed  with  a  pleasant  style,  large  sympa 
thies,  and  a  strict  and  conscientious  sense  of  justice.  The  inci 
dents  of  the  war,  set  forth  in  these  private  letters  of  the  soldiers 
and  narrated  in  the  newspapers,  would  make  up  not  only  what 
would  be  the  best  of  all  histories,  but  reading  as  absorbing  as 
any  romance. 

One  of  these  incidents  occurs  to  me  as  I  write.  While  I  was 
Secretary  of  the  Senate  there  was  hardly  an  hour  during  any 
day  that  I  was  not  called  upon  to  help  somebody  who  had 
friends  or  kindred  in  the  army,  or  had  business  in  the  Depart 
ments,  or  was  anxious  to  get  some  poor  fellow  out  of  the  Old 
Capitol  Prison.  These  constant  appeals  were  incessant  de 
mands  upon  the  time  of  a  very  busy  man,  but  the  labor  was  a 
labor  of  love,  and  I  am  glad  to  remember  that  I  never  under 
took  it  reluctantly.  One  day  a  very  energetic  lady  called  on  me 
to  take  her  to  the  President,  and  aid  her  to  get  a  private  soldier 
pardoned  who  had  been  sentenced  to  death  for  desertion,  and 
was  to  be  shot  the  very  next  morning.  We  were  much  pressed 
in  the  Senate,  and  she  had  to  wait  a  long  time  before  I  could 


THE    PARDON    SIGNED.  295 

accompany  her  to  the  White  House.  It  was  late  in  the  after 
noon  when  we  got  there,  and  yet  the  Cabinet  was  still  in  ses 
sion.  I  sent  my  name  in  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  he  came  out  ev 
idently  in  profound  thought,  and  full  of  some  great  subject.  I 
stated  the  object  of  our  call,  and,  leaving  the  lady  in  one  of  the 
ante-chambers,  returned  to  the  Senate,  which  had  not  yet  ad 
journed.  The  case  made  a  deep  impression  on  me,  but  I 
forgot  it  in  the  excitement  of  the  debate  and  the  work  of  my 
office,  until,  perhaps,  near  ten  o'clock  that  night,  when  my  fe 
male  friend  came  rushing  into  my  room,  radiant  with  delight, 
the  pardon  in  her  hand.  "  I  have  been  up  there  ever  since/' 
she  said.  "The  Cabinet  adjourned,  and  I  sat  waiting  for  the 
President  to  come  out  and  tell  me  the  fate  of  my  poor  soldier, 
whose  case  I  placed  in  his  hands  after  you  left ;  but  I  waited  in 
vain— there  was  no  Mr.  Lincoln.  So  I  thought  I  would  go  up 
to  the  door  of  his  Cabinet  chamber  and  knock.  I  did  so,  and, 
as  there  was  no  answer,  I  opened  it  and  passed  in,  and  there 
was  the  worn  President  asleep,  with  his  head  on  the  table  rest 
ing  on  his  arms,  and  my  boy's  pardon  signed  by  his  side.  I 
quietly  waked  him,  blessed  him  for  his  good  deed,  and  came 
here  to  tell  you  the  glorious  news.  You  have  helped  me  to 
save  a  human  life." 

This  is  the  material,  if  not  for  solemn  history,  at  least  for 
those  better  lessons  \vhich  speak  to  us  from  the  lives  of  the  just 
and  the  pure. 

[March  10, 1872.] 


LXII. 

CONGRESSIONAL  debates  and  Departmental  reports,  too  often 
dreary  enough,  are  not  without  a  large  leaven  of  romance  and 
humor.  Time  and  patience  are  required,  however,  to  winnow 


296  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

the  wheat  from  these  piles  of  dust.  It  is  almost  like  digging 
for  gold  or  searching  for  jewels — you  must  endure  much  before 
you  reach  the  precious  deposits.  The  records  of  our  former 
wars  by  land  and  sea,  of  the  Treasury,  State,  Interior,  Postal, 
and  Law  Departments,  conceal  an  infinite  variety  of  material, 
now  utterly  forgotten,  and  almost  entirely  unknown.  As  you 
pass  through  the  lofty  spaces  of  the  Capitol,  or  the  dim  clois 
ters  of  the  executive  buildings,  you  see  aged  men  with  busy 
pens  bending  over  and  filling  large  folios  of  this  increasing 
history.  If  you  could  catch  one  of  these  veterans  after  hours, 
he  would  spare  you  a  world  of  pains  by  gossiping  through  the 
avenues  of  his  experience,  not  a  few  of  which  are  full  of  the 
flowers  and  fragrance  of  a  cultivated  life.  William  L.  Marcy 
used  to  be  such  a  man,  as,  with  snuff-box  in  hand,  he  sat  cross- 
legged  in  his  place  as  War  Minister  under  Polk,  and  Foreign 
Secretary  under  Pierce.  Robert  J.  Walker,  vastly  like  that  de 
licious  literary  canary,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  of  Boston, 
would  crowd  his  talk  with  the  pictures  of  the  people  he  had 
known.  James  Buchanan  was  no  mean  delineator  of  the  char 
acters  of  the  past.  Mr.  Seward  loved  to  philosophize,  or  rather 
dogmatize,  by  the  hour.  Doubtless  General  Spinner,  the  Unit 
ed  States  Treasurer,  could  tell  you  a  thousand  stories  about  the 
romance  of  the  Greenbacks.  The  beloved  First  Auditor,  Thom 
as  L.  Smith,  who  died  recently  after  half  a  century's  honest 
service,  wrote  and  spoke  of  departed  leaders  with  rare  facility ; 
Admiral  Joseph  Smith  is  a  treasure-house  of  sea-legends ;  Quar 
termaster-General  Meigs  will  relate  what  would  fill  a  volume 
of  his  work  on  the  extension  of  the  Capitol,  and  his  relations  to 
the  rebellion ;  General  David  Hunter  will  take  you  back  to  the 
primitive  days  of  Washington  City,  and  repeople  many  of  the 
old  houses  on  Capitol  Hill.  The  other  day  I  called  on  Com 
modore  Daniel  Ammen,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Navigation  and 
Detail,  and  asked  him  to  tell  me  about  the  celebrated  mutiny 
on  board  the  California  steamer,  the  Ocean  Queen,  in  May,  of 


A   MUTINY    SUBDUED.  297 

1864.     This  event,  though  of  a  recent  date,  has  been  literally 
sponged  from  the  slate  of  the  general  memory,  though  still  pre 
served  among  the  records  of  the  navy.     A  contingent  of  over 
200  men,  most  of  them  "  roughs  "  who  had  served  in  the  army, 
and  had  volunteered  for  naval  service  on  the  Pacific  coast,  were 
shipped  for   their  destination    on   board  the   Ocean   Queen,  in 
charge    of   Commodore    Ammen    and    a   subordinate    officer. 
There  were  over  a  thousand  other  passengers,  including  many 
women  and  children.     Justice  Field,  of  the  United  States  S^ 
preme  Court,  was  among  the  cabin  passengers.     The   vessel 
itself  was  commanded  by  a  fine  old  seaman,  Captain  Tinkle- 
paugh.     On  the  first  day  out  the  new  recruits  began  to  show 
dissatisfaction  with  their  accommodations  and  food,  and  it  was 
soon  evident  that,  under  the  counsel  of  two  or  three  desperate 
leaders,  they  were  preparing  to  seize  and  rifle  the  steamer  and 
the  passengers.     The  Captain  proposed  to  run  into  one  of  the 
nearest  ports  and  get  rid  of  the  dangerous  conspirators,  but  this 
was  resisted  by  Commodore  Ammen,  who  had  the  turbulent 
men  in  charge.     He  quietly  reasoned  with  them,  and  assured 
them  that,  as  he  was  responsible  for  their  good  conduct,  he  would 
see  to  their  proper  comfort,  but  that  if  they  resorted  to  violence 
they  would  be  severely  punished.     He  was  so  cool  and  kind  as 
he  made  this  statement,  that  they  did  not  think  him  in  earnest, 
and  proceeded  with  their  plans.     Their  chief,  Kelley,  was  a 
young  fellow  of  six  feet  four  inches,  very  athletic  and  determin 
ed.    When  the  first  demonstration  was  made  Commodore  Am 
men  was  in  a  distant  part  of  the  vessel,  and  on  hearing  the  noise 
proceeded  to  the  scene  of  action.     There  he  found  Captain 
Tinklepaugh  in  the  hands  of  Kelley,  who  was  surrounded  by 
the  other  mutineers,  all  evidently  under  his  orders,  and  ready  to 
proceed  to  the  worst  extremities.     The  crisis  had  come,  and 
Ammen,  seeing  that  prompt  action  was  necessary  to  save  the 
steamer  and  perhaps  the  lives  of  the  female  passengers,  drew 
his  revolver  and  shot  Kelley  dead  on  the  spot.     One  of  his  im- 

N  2 


298  ANECDOTES  OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

mediate  followers  was  killed  at  the  same  time.  The  effect  on 
the  others  was  instantaneous.  They  saw  that  the  quiet  man 
who  had  them  in  charge  was  resolved  to  enforce  his  authority, 
and  they  quailed.  He  then  briefly  addressed  them,  telling  them 
of  his  determination,  exhorted  them  to  remember  their  duty  and 
their  flag,  and  was  greeted  with  three  hearty  cheers.  After 
which,  under  his  advice,  they  went  to  their  dinner.  There  was, 
of  course,  great  consternation  among  the  cabin  passengers,  but 
they  were  soon  reassured  by  the  calm  demeanor  of  Commodore 
Ammen.  His  next  step  was  to  go  straight  among  the  remain 
der  of  the  mutineers,  and  to  call  out  the  leaders  and  put  them 
in  irons.  One  or  two  attempted  to  resist,  but  when  they  saw 
that  they  would  soon  be  made  to  follow  their  dead  compan 
ions,  who  had  by  this  time  been  sewed  in  canvas  and  cast  over 
board,  they  submitted.  The  whole  affair  occupied  very  little 
time ;  and  the  commander,  crew,  and  passengers  were  so  im 
pressed  by  the  resolute  courage  of  Commodore  Ammen  that 
they  joined  in  a  hearty  commendation  of  his  course.  Justice 
Field  himself  addressed  a  strong  letter  to  the  Department  in 
earnest  vindication  of  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  his  action.  I 
do  not  pretend  to  tell  the  story  as  it  fell  from  Commodore  Am 
men — so  modest  and  so  clear.  His  printed  defense  before  the 
court-martial,  which  he  demanded,  is  a  model  of  candor,  and 
was  followed  by  his  unanimous  acquittal.  Had  he  been  weak 
or  impulsive,  the  scene  would  have  ended  in  a  grand  tragedy, 
and  perhaps  hundreds  of  innocent  persons  would  have  perished. 
Men  like  Ammen,  though  beloved  and  honored  in  their  own 
circle,  and  by  the  Government  they  bravely  and  unostentatious 
ly  serve,  are  rarely  heard  of  in  the  great  outside  world ;  and  it 
is  simple  justice  that  they  should  not  be  wholly  lost  sight  of  in 
the  loud  rush  and  conflict  of  these  busy  times. 

[March  17,  1872.] 


EMINENT    BOSTONIANS.  299 


LXIII. 

"WHAT  constitutes  a  State?"  is  the  title  of  one  of  the  most 
familiar  poems  in  the  English  language.  I  could  not  help  think 
ing  of  the  constantly  quoted  answer  during  my  visit  to  Boston 
last  autumn  in  company  with  my  friend  Dougherty,  who  repeat 
ed  his  fine  lecture  on  "  Oratory,"  at  Music  Hall,  in  that  city. 
The  next  day  Senator  Sumner  invited  us  to  dine  with  him  at  a 
place  called  Taft's,  on  the  ocean  beach,  a  few  miles  outside  of 
the  town,  and  when  we  got  there  I  found  among  the  company 
assembled  Professor  Agassiz,  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  Richard  H. 
Dana,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  ex-Governor  Clifford,  George 
S.  Hilliard,  Samuel  Hooper,  and  one  or  two  more.  The  dinner 
itself  was  a  rare  curiosity — thirteen  courses  in  all,  consisting  of 
seven  varieties  of  fish,  taken  from  the  neighboring  waters,  each 
of  which  was  familiarly  and  graphically  described  by  Professor 
Agassiz  in  an  exceedingly  interesting  manner,  and  six  courses 
of  game,  gathered  from  far  and  near,  all  of  different  species,  ex 
pressly  stated  on  a  written  label,  as  they  were  sent  in  hot  from 
the  kitchen,  and  as  exquisitely  prepared  as  if  they  had  been  so 
many  varieties  of  French  cooking,  and  had  been  ushered  in  un 
der  French  titles,  so  that  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  tell 
whether  the  fish  was  not  fowl,  and  whether  the  fowl  was  not 
something  else  than  itself.  The  wines  were  choice,  old,  and 
historical,  and  they  were  thoroughly  enjoyed,  although  with  that 
moderation  which  always  marks  the  gentleman  at  a  dinner-table 
who  knows  the  wise  stop,  and  never  forgets  himself.  But  I  do 
not  desire  to  speak  of  what  was  to  me,  a  plain  Pennsylvanian, 
the  mere  novelty  of  the  substantiate  of  the  feast,  as  of  my  pa 
tient  study  of  the  interesting  men  by  whom  I  was  surrounded. 
Here  was  Professor  Agassiz  at  sixty-four,  looking  younger  than 
most  men  at  forty-four ;  Longfellow,  with  his  streaming  locks, 
revealing  in  a  snowy  framework  a  face  of  enchanting  and  ven- 


300  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

erable  beauty;  Sumner,  who,  to  use  the  remark  of  another,  al 
ways  looks  like  the  classic  statue  of  some  great  Roman ;  Hooper, 
the  living  type  of  the  solid  men  of  Boston;  Richard  H.  Dana, 
the  author  of  "  Two  Years  before  the  Mast,"  keen,  congenial, 
and  receptive,  and  equally  distinguished  as  the  leader  of  the 
bar;  Dr.  Holmes,  with  his  charming  sparkle,  and  his  endless 
and  spontaneous  humor.     Their  conversation  was  the  flavor  of 
the  afternoon  and  evening.     Unconstrained,  without  coarseness; 
animated,  without  intolerance ;  if  it  could  have  been  reported 
for  future  reading  it  would  have  furnished  a  precious  page  in 
some  new  "  Noctes  Ambrosianae."     Professor  Agassiz  was  filled 
with  enthusiasm,  and  appeared  to  have  realized  the  acme  of  his 
ambition  in  the  proposed  scientific  trip  he  was  soon  to  make 
under  the  auspices  of  our  Government,  and  aided  by  the  liber 
ality  of  enterprising  citizens  of  Boston.     He  rejoiced  in  the  fact 
that  America  had  taken  the  initiative  in  these  important  inves 
tigations,  and  explained  in  a  clear  and  lucid  manner,  devoid  of 
technical  phrases,  the  object  of  his  mission.     England  had  for 
many  years  considered  the  propriety  of  exploring  the  wonders 
of  the  deep,  but  it  was  reserved  for  America  to  carry  into  prac 
tical  effect  a  scheme  that  would  not  fail  to  be  followed  by  good 
results,  and  which  would  add  materially  to  the  development  of 
science.     He  said  he  proposed  to  survey  the  geography  of  the 
bed  of  the  ocean.     The  topography  of  the  earth  had  long  since 
been  discovered,  but  we  were  yet  in  darkness  as  to  the  founda 
tion  of  the  great  waters,  which  is  supposed  to  present  the  same 
indentations,  elevations,  and  irregularities.     All  the   requisite 
appliances  and  every  conceivable  comfort  had  been  furnished 
Agassiz,  a  ship  had  been  placed  at  his  disposal,  and  he  entered 
upon  his  work  with  all  the  eagerness  and  fervor  of  a  young  man 
just  in  the  prime  of  life.     The  affectionate  and  loving  passage 
between  Longfellow  and  himself,  when  the  former  left  his  chair 
to  bid  the  Professor  farewell  and  God-speed  on  his  long  voyage, 
which  commenced  a  few  days  afterward;  the  skill,  the  learning, 


NEW    ENGLAND.  301 

and  the  wit  displayed  in  the  discussion  of  the  private  character 
of  Franklin,  by  Sumner  and  Dana;  the  frank  and  manly  inter 
change  of  views  on  all  questions  affecting  men  and  measures, 
answered  the  question  so  frequently  asked  in  regard  to  Massa 
chusetts.  What  is  it  that  constitutes  this  great  State  ?  What 
is  it  that  has  made  New  England  so  powerful,  with  her  barren 
soil  and  inhospitable  clime?  Her  men.  Here  were  the  off 
spring  of  generations;  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  some  of  those 
who  have  laid  deep  the  foundations  of  civil  and  religious  liberty; 
who  initiated  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  fought  it  through 
to  the  end;  who  lighted  the  fires  against  slavery,  and  when  slav 
ery  flew  to  arms  were  the  first  to  rush  to  its  overthrow ;  whose 
colleges,  schools,  charities,  municipal  management,  internal 
finance,  and  the  general  order,  propriety,  and  safety  of  whose 
government  has  no  parallel  in  the  world.  It  is  very  easy  to 
sneer  at  the  habit  of  laudation  of  New  England  and  of  Massa 
chusetts,  but  facts  are  better  than  fables,  plain  experience  bet 
ter  than  theory ;  and  as  I  sat  in  this  goodly  company  I  reverted 
to  the  condition  of  the  South,  that  fought  in  the  war  against 
Great  Britain  a  hundred  years  ago,  under  the  leadership  of  men 
confessedly  as  great,  and  many  of  them  greater  than  the  great 
chiefs  of  cold  New  England.  They  were  venerated  every 
where;  but  what  effect  has  their  example  had  upon  posterity? 
And  why  ?  Simply  because,  whereas  the  New  England  founda 
tion  of  schools  in  peace  and  in  war  produced  an  increasing 
popular  intelligence,  there  has  never  been  in  the  South  such  a 
thing  as  popular  intelligence  until,  perhaps,  to-day,  when  the 
most  benighted  class,  elevated  to  freedom,  is  outstripping  the 
ignorant  minority  which  held  it  so  long  in  slavery.  But  the 
lesson  is  capable  of  a  more  elaborate  and  extended  notice. 

[March  24, 1872.] 


3O2  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 


LXIV. 

PREMATURE  death  is  always  sad.  The  fall  of  a  brave,  bright 
spirit,  as  we  perhaps  profanely  phrase  it,  "  before  his  time," 
awakens  a  sharper  pain  than  when  the  ripe  fruit  drops  of  itself, 
or  is  kindly  gathered  in.  Douglas  died  when  millions,  who 
would  once  have  been  glad  of  his  death,  prayed  that  he  might 
live  •  died  when  his  brain  would  have  been  a  treasure  to  his 
country.  Henry  Winter  Davis  passed  away  in  the  flush  and 
prime  of  his  usefulness.  The  Rupert  of  debate,  the  Rienzi  of 
the  people,  the  model  of  manly  beauty — yet  he  faded  out  at  the 
moment  when  he  was  filling  the  hearts  and  eyes  of  men.  I 
have  two  or  three  such  precious  memories  of  my  own — memo 
ries  that  can  never  die,  memories  that  never  waken  but  to  stir 
every  fibre  and  to  start  every  throb.  Oh !  what  a  career  was 
closed  to  them  by  the  sudden  shutting  of  the  vital  gates.  How 
splendidly  they  were  equipped  for  the  race  !  They  were  armed 
personally  and  mentally  ;  they  loved  life  ;  they  inspired  love  in 
others  ;  they  reveled  in  books  and  in  society ;  they  were  fired 
by  ambition.  And  they  are  gone,  as  utterly  forgotten  by  the 
mass  who  flattered  and  followed  them  as  if  they  had  never  ex 
isted.  But  to  me  they  are  deathless  : 

"The  loveliest  of  their  race, 
Whose  grassy  tombs  my  sorrows  steep ; 
Whose  worth  my  soul  delights  to  trace  ; 
Whose  very  loss  'tis  sweet  to  weep." 

It  is  only  a  few  weeks  since  I  sat  with  my  old  friend,  Simeon 
M.  Johnson,  at  Delmonico's,  in  New  York.  Johnson  was  a 
rare  man.  He  rea'd  much  and  remembered  what  he  read ;  he 
had  seen  much,  and  knew  how  to  describe  what  he  had  seen 
with  eloquent  tongue  and  ready  pen.  He  was  so  kind  and 
genial  that  you  felt  as  if  he  must  live  to  a  great  age.  There 
are  some  men  who  so  entirely  absorb  you  that  when  they  die 


DEPARTED    FRIENDS.  303 

you  "can  not  make  them  dead."  As  with  Johnson,  when  I 
saw  that  he  was  gone,  so  with  our  dear  friend,  James  H.  Orne, 
whom  we  carried  into  his  vault  one  icy  afternoon  last  Decem 
ber  ;  and  so,  too,  with  William  S.  Huntington,  whom  you  Wash 
ington  people  are  just  now  mourning.  I  can  see  Orne  now  at 
the  head  of  his  dinner-table,  or  in  his  own  parlors,  or  on  Chest 
nut  Street,  or  in  his  business — the  air,  the  bearing,  the  tone  of 
a  gentleman  ;  graceful,  unselfish,  polite,  practical,  and  I  "  can 
not  make  him  dead."  I  think  it  was  two  weeks  ago  this  very 
Sunday  that  I  was  passing  by  the  new  club  house,  on  New  York 
Avenue,  Washington  City,  with  some  friends,  when  Mr.  Hunt 
ington  saw  us,  came  out  on  the  steps,  invited  us  in,  showed  us 
through  the  establishment,  and  asked  us  to  enroll  our  names. 
He  was  most  courteous,  and,  though  not  robust,  seemed  cheery 
and  hopeful.  He  described  to  me  his  trip  to  St.  Petersburg, 
Russia,  and  back ;  how  many  days  it  consumed  \  how  much  he 
had  seen  in  his  meteor  flight.  His  face  was  always  one  of  sin 
gular  interest  to  me  ;  its  classic  outlines  indicated  brain  of  the 
highest  order  ;  his  whole  bearing  was  distingue.  And  now  he  is 
gone,  at  thirty-one.  Even  on  the  threshold  of  an  earthly  future, 
crowded  with  hopes  and  honors,  he  is  suddenly  introduced  into 
the  mysteries  of  another  world. 

[March  31,  1872.] 


LXV. 

To  preside  over  a  large  dinner-party  is  always  a  trying  task 
to  a  woman.  Those  who  recall  the  sparkling  descriptions  of 
the  entertainments  of  Lady  Blessington,  by  Nathaniel  P.  Willis, 
during  his  stay  in  London,  many  years  ago,  need  not  be  told 
that  the  post  is  one  which  requires  rare  qualities.  There  is  the 
necessity  of  knowing  something  of  the  guests,  then  the  art  of 


304  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

conversation,  and,  above  all,  easy  address,  refinement,  and  tact. 
When  New  York  was  the  political  capital  of  the  United  States, 
which  embraced  but  one  winter — that  succeeding  the  formal  rat 
ification  of  the  Constitution — President  Washington's  ill-health, 
the  death  of  his  mother,  and  other  circumstances,  prevented 
him  from  attending  public  balls,  and  Mrs.  Washington  had  little 
inclination  for  such  amusements,  and  was  never  present  at  grand 
entertainments.  She  was  a  plain,  old-fashioned  person,  and 
rarely  figured  save  in  the  subsequent  Presidential  receptions  in 
Philadelphia,  after  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  that  city. 

Mrs.  John  Adams,  wife  of  the  second  President,  removed 
while  her  husband  was  Vice-President  from  Boston  to  Philadel 
phia  to  her  new  residence  at  Bush  Hill,  which  she  describes  as 
a  very  beautiful  place.  She  was  fond  of  the  theatre,  having 
acquired  the  taste  during  her  sojourn  in  Paris.  "  She  was  not 
without  tenderness,  and  womanly,  but  her  distinction  was  a 
masculine  understanding,  energy,  and  decision,  fitting  her  for 
the  bravest  or  most  delicate  periods  of  affairs,  and  in  an  eminent 
degree  for  that  domestic  relation  which  continued  unbroken 
through  so  many  changeful  years,  herself  unchangeful — always 
making  her  own  lot  a  portion  of  her  husband's,  in  a  manner 
that  illustrates  the  noblest  ideas  that  we  have  of  marriage." 
She  remained  in  Paris  and  London  four  years,  and  was  forty- 
five  when  summoned  to  America  by  the  election  of  her  husband 
to  the  office  of  Vice-President.  She  was  very  intimate  with 
Martha  Jefferson,  Thomas  Jefferson's  daughter,  who  had  been 
intrusted  to  her  care  in  Paris,  and  spoke  of  her  as  a  young  wo 
man  of  uncommon  delicacy  and  sensibility. 

Mr.  Jefferson  kept  a  liberal  table  for  his  friends,  but  there  is 
little  note  of  the  ladies  who  figured  at  his  dinners.  He  was  a 
widower  when  he  entered  the  Presidency.  He  married  Martha 
Skelton,  the  widow  of  Bathhurst  Skelton,  of  Virginia,  and  daugh 
ter  of  John  Wayles.  The  marriage  took  place  at  "The  Forest," 
in  Charles  County.  The  bride  was  left  a  widow  when  very 


MRS.  MARTHA    JEFFERSON.  305 

young,  and  was  only  twenty-three  when  she  married  Mr.  Jeffer 
son.  She  is  described  as  having  been  very  beautiful,  a  little 
above  the  middle  height,  with  a  lithe  and  exquisitely  formed 
figure.  She  was  well  educated  for  her  day,  and  a  constant 
reader ;  inheriting  from  her  father  method  and  industry,  as  the 
accounts  kept  in  her  clear  handwriting,  still  in  the  possession  of 
her  descendants,  testify.  Several  other  prominent  men  aspired 
to  her  hand,  but  Jefferson  carried  off  the  prize.  She  did  not  sur 
vive  to  enjoy  the  brilliant  career  of  her  husband,  but  died  on  the 
6th  of  September,  1782,  after  the  birth  of  her  sixth  child,  leaving 
three  female  children.  Jefferson  wrote  the  following  epitaph  for 

his  wife's  tomb : 

"  To  the  memory  of 

ill  art  I)  a  Jefferson, 

Daughter  of  John  Wayles; 
Born  October  19, 1748,  O.  S.; 

Intermarried  with  Thomas  Jefferson,  January  1, 1772; 

Torn  from  him  by  death,  Septemper  6, 1782, 

This  monument  of  his  love  is  inscribed. 


"  '  If  in  the  melancholy  shades  below 

The  flames  of  friends  and  lovers  cease  to  glow, 
Yet  mine  shall  sacred  last;  mine  undecayed, 
Burn  on  through  death,  and  animate  my  shade.'  " 

These  four  lines  Mr.  Jefferson  left  in  the  Greek  in  the  orig 
inal  epitaph.  There  is  a  photograph  from  a  portrait  by  Sully 
in  "The  Domestic  Life  of  Jefferson,"  compiled  from  family  let 
ters  and  reminiscences  by  his  great-granddaughter,  Sarah  N. 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  which  fully  confirms  the  above  descrip 
tion. 

Mr.  Jefferson  thought  it  becoming  a  Republican  that  his  in 
auguration  should  be  as  unostentatious  and  free  from  display 
as  possible ;  and  such  it  was.  An  English  traveler,  who  was  in 
Washington  at  the  time,  thus  describes  him  :  "  His  dress  was 
of  plain  cloth,  and  he  rode  on  horseback  to  the  Capitol  without 
a  single  guard,  or  even  servant,  in  his  train,  dismounted  without 


306  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

assistance,  and  hitched  the  bridle  of  his  horse  to  the  palisades." 
He  was  accompanied  to  the  Senate  Chamber  by  a  number  of 
his  friends,  where,  before  taking  the  oath  of  office,  he  delivered 
his  inaugural  address,  whose  chaste  and  simple  beauty  is  so  fa 
miliar  to  the  student  of  American  history. 

Congress  opened  December  7,  1801.  It  had  been  the  cus 
tom  for  the  session  to  be  opened  pretty  much  as  the  English 
Parliament  is  by  the  Queen's  speech.  The  President,  accom 
panied  by  a  cavalcade,  proceeded  in  state  to  the  Capitol,  took 
his  seat  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  and,  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  being  summoned,  he  read  his  address.  Mr.  Jefferson, 
however,  on  the  opening  of  this  session  of  Congress  (1801), 
swept  away  all  these  inconvenient  forms  and  ceremonies  by  in 
troducing  the  custom  of  the  President  reading  a  written  mes 
sage  to  Congress.  Soon  after  his  inauguration  he  did  away 
with  levees,  and  established  only  two  public  days  for  the  recep 
tion  of  company,  the  first  of  January  and  the  Fourth  of  July, 
when  his  doors  were  thrown  open  to  the  public.  He  received 
private  calls,  whether  of  courtesy  or  on  business,  at  all  other 
times. 

We  have  had  preserved  to  us  by  his  great-granddaughter  an 
amusing  anecdote  of  the  effect  of  abolishing  levees.  Many  of 
the  ladies  of  Washington,  indignant  at  being  cut  off  from  the 
pleasure  of  attending  them,  and  thinking  that  their  discontinu 
ance  was  an  innovation  on  former  customs,  determined  to  force 
the  President  to  hold  them.  Accordingly,  on  the  usual  levee 
day,  they  resorted  in  full  force  to  the  White  House.  The  Pres 
ident  was  out  taking  his  habitual  ride  on  horseback.  On  his 
return,  being  told  that  the  public  rooms  were  filled  with  ladies, 
he  at  once  divined  their  true  motives  for  coming  on  that  day. 
Without  being  at  all  disconcerted,  all  booted  and  spurred,  and 
still  covered  with  the  dust  of  his  ride,  he  went  in  to  receive  his 
fair  guests.  Never  had  his  reception  been  more  graceful  or 
courteous.  The  ladies,  charmed  with  the  ease  and  grace  of  his 


MRS.  MADISON.  307 

manners  and  address,  forgot  their  indignation  with  him,  and 
went  away,  feeling  that,  of  the  two  parties,  they  had  shown  most 
impoliteness  in  visiting  his  house  when  not  expected.  The  re 
sult  of  their  plot  was  for  a  long  time  a  subject  of  mirth  among 
them,  and  they  never  again  attempted  to  infringe  upon  the  rules 
of  his  household. 

Madison  succeeded  Jefferson  as  President,  and  his  wife,  Dolly 
Payne,  the  Quakeress,  is  still  remembered  by  surviving  states 
men  like  Reverdy  Johnson  and  Horace  Binney.  She  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  but  had  been  educated  under  the  strictest 
rules  of  the  Friends  of  Philadelphia,  where,  at  an  early  age,  she 
married  a  young  lawyer  of  this  sect  named  Todd;  but  when 
she  became  a  widow  she  threw  off  drab  silks  and  plain  laces, 
and  was  for  several  years  one  of  the  gayest  and  most  attractive 
women  in  the  city.  She  had  many  lovers,  but  she  gave  the 
preference  to  young  Madison,  whose  wife  she  became  in  1794. 
To  this  day  there  are  anecdotes  told  of  her  peculiar  fascinations 
in  Washington  City,  and  especially  at  dinner-parties  and  recep 
tions.  Mrs.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  (now  Mrs.  General  Williams) 
is  one  of  her  descendants.  She  made  a  jolly  and  happy  social 
administration.  One  of  Mrs.  Seaton's  letters  graphically  de 
scribes  a  dinner  at  the  President's,  and  a  naval 'ball,  under  date 
of  November  12,  1812  : 

"On  Tuesday, William  and  I  repaired  to  ' the  place'  between 
four  and  five  o'clock,  our  carriage  setting  us  down  after  the 
first  comers  and  before  the  last.  It  is  customary,  on  whatever 
occasion,  to  advance  to  the  upper  end  of  the  room,  pay  your 
obeisance  to  Mrs.  Madison,  courtesy  to  his  Highness,  and  take 
a  seat ;  after  this  ceremony,  being  at  liberty  to  speak  to  ac 
quaintances,  or  amuse  yourself  as  at  another  party.  The  party 
already  assembled  consisted  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States;  Mr.  Russell,  the  American  Minister  to  England;  Mr. 
Cutts,  brother-in-law  of  Mrs.  Madison  ;  General  Van  Ness  and 
family ;  General  Smith  and  daughter,  from  New  York ;  Pat- 


308  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

rick  Magruder's  family;  Colonel  Goodwine  and  daughter;  Mr. 
Coles,  the  Private  Secretary ;  Washington  Irving,  the  author 
of  '  Knickerbocker '  and  *  Salmagundi ;'  Mr.  Thomas,  an  Eu 
ropean  ;  Mr.  Poindexter ;  William  R.  King,  and  two  other  gen 
tlemen  ;  and  these,  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Madison,  and  Payne 
Todd,  her  son,  completed  the  select  company. 

"  Mrs.  Madison  very  handsomely  came  to  me  and  led  me 
nearest  the  fire,  introduced  Mrs.  Magruder,  and  sat  down  be 
tween  us,  politely  conversing  on  familiar  subjects,  and  by  her 
own  ease  of  manner  making  her  guests  feel  at  home.  Mr.  King 
came  to  our  side,  sans  ceremonie,  and  gayly  chatted  with  us  until 
dinner  was  announced.  Mrs.  Magruder,  by  a  priority  of  age, 
was  entitled  to  the  right  hand  of  her  hostess,  and  I,  in  virtue  of 
being  a  stranger,  to  the  next  seat,  Mr.  Russell  to  her  left,  Mr. 
Coles  at  the  foot  of  the  table,  the  President  in  the  middle,  which 
relieves  him  from  the  trouble  of  receiving  guests,  drinking  wine, 
etc.  The  dinner  was  certainly  very  fine,  but  still  I  was  rather 
surprised,  as  it  did  not  surpass  some  I  have  eaten  in  Carolina. 
There  were  many  French  dishes,  and  exquisite  wines,  I  pre 
sume,  by  the  praises  bestowed  on  them ;  but  I  have  been  so 
little  accustomed  to  drink  that  I  could  not  discern  the  differ 
ence  between  sherry  and  rare  old  Burgundy  madeira.  Com 
ment  on  the  quality  of  the  wine  seems  to  form  the  chief  topic 
after  the  removal  of  the  cloth  and  during  the  dessert,  at  which, 
by -the -way,  no  pastry  is  countenanced.  Ice-creams,  maca 
roons,  preserves,  and  various  cakes  are  placed  on  the  table, 
which  are  removed  for  almonds,  raisins,  pecan -nuts,  apples, 
pears,  etc.  Candies  were  introduced  before  the  ladies  left  the 
table ;  and  the  gentlemen  continued  half  an  hour  longer  to 
drink  a  social  glass.  Meantime  Mrs.  Madison  insisted  on  my 
playing  on  her  elegant  grand  piano  a  waltz  for  Miss  Smith  and 
Miss  Magruder  to  dance,  the  figure  of  which  she  instructed 
them  in.  By  this  time  the  gentlemen  came  in,  and  we  ad 
journed  to  the  tea-room ;  and  here,  in  the  most  delightful  man- 


MRS.  MADISON.  309 

ner  imaginable,  I  shared  with  Mrs.  Smith,  who  is  remarkably  in 
telligent,  the  pleasure  of  Mrs.  Madison's  conversation  on  books, 
men  and  manners,  literature  in  general,  and  many  special 
branches  of  knowledge.  I  never  spent  a  more  rational  or  pleas 
ing  half-hour  than  that  which  preceded  our  return  home.  On 
paying  our  compliments  at  parting  we  were  politely  invited  to 
attend  the  levee  the  next  evening.  I  would  describe  the  dig- 
nified  appearance  of  Mrs.  Madison,  but  I  fear  it  is  the  woman 
altogether  whom  I  should  wish  you  to  see.  She  wears  a  crim 
son  cap  that  almost  hides  her  forehead,  but  which  becomes  her 
extremely,  and  reminds  one  of  a  crown  from  its  brilliant  ap 
pearance,  contrasted  with  the  white  satin  folds  and  her  jet-black 
curls;  but  her  demeanor  is  so  far  removed  from  the  hauteur 
generally  attendant  on  royalty  that  your  fancy  can  carry  the  re 
semblance  no  further  than  the  head-dress.  In  a  conspicuous 
position  every  fault  is  rendered  more  discernible  to  common 
eyes,  and  more  liable  to  censure ;  and  the  same  rule  certainly 
enables  every  virtue  to  shine  with  more  brilliancy  than  when 
confined  to  an  inferior  station  in  society.  But  I — and  I  am  by 
no  means  singular  in  the  opinion — believe  that  Mrs.  Madison's 
conduct  would  be  graced  by  propriety  were  she  placed  in  the 
most  adverse  circumstances  in  life. 

"  Mr.  Madison  has  no  leisure  for  the  ladies,  for  every  moment 
of  his  time  is  engrossed  by  the  crowd  of  male  visitors  who  court 
his  notice;  and,  after  passing  the  first  complimentary  saluta 
tions,  his  attention  is  unavoidably  withdrawn  to  more  important 
objects.  Some  days  ago  invitations  were  issued  to  two  or  three 
hundred  ladies  and  gentlemen  to  dine  and  spend  the  day  with 
Colonel  Wharton  and  Captain  Stewart,  on  board  the  Constel 
lation,  an  immense  ship  of  war.  This,  of  all  the  sights  I  have 
ever  witnessed,  was  the  most  interesting,  grand,  and  novel. 
William,  Joseph  R.,  and  I  went  together,  and  as  the  vessel  lay 
in  the  stream  off  the  point,  there  were  several  beautiful  little 
yachts  to  convey  the  guests  to  the  scene  of  festivity.  On  reach- 


310  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

ing  the  deck  we  were  ushered  immediately  under  the  awning, 
composed  of  many  flags,  and  found  ourselves  in  the  presence 
of  hundreds  of  ladies  and  gentlemen.  The  effect  was  astonish 
ing — every  color  of  the  rainbow,  every  form  and  fashion  ;  nature 
and  art  ransacked  to  furnish  gay  and  suitable  habiliments  for 
the  belles,  who,  with  the  beaux,  in  their  court  dresses,  were 
gayly  dancing  to  the  inspiring  strains  of  a  magnificent  band. 
The  ladies  had  assured  youth  and  beauty  in  their  persons,  taste 
and  splendor  in  their  dress.  Thousands  of  dollars  were  ex 
pended  by  the  dashing  fair  ones  in  preparation  for  \h\sfete. 

"  At  the  upper  end  of  the  quarter-deck  sat  Mrs.  Madison,  to 
whom  we  paid  our  respects,  and  then  participated  in  the  con 
versation  and  amusements  with  our  friends,  among  whom  were 
Mrs.  Monroe,  Mrs.  Gallatin,  etc. 

"  It  is  customary  to  breakfast  at  nine  o'clock,  dine  at  four,  and 
drink  tea  at  eight,  which  division  of  time  I  do  not  like,  but  am 
compelled  to  submit.  I  am  more  surprised  at  the  method  of 
taking  tea  here  than  any  other  meal.  In  private  families,  if 
you  step  in  of  an  evening,  they  give  you  tea  and  crackers  or 
cold  bread,  and  if  by  invitation,  unless  the  party  is  very  splen 
did,  you  have  a  few  sweet  cakes  and  macaroons  from  the  con 
fectioner's.  Once  I  saw  a  ceremony  of  preserves  at  tea,  but 
the  deficiency  is  made  up  by  the  style  at  dinner,  with  extrava 
gant  wines,  etc.  Pastry  and  puddings  going  out  of  date,  and 
wine  and  ice-cream  coming  in,  does  not  suit  my  taste,  and  I 
confess  to  preferring  Raleigh  hospitality.  I  have  never  even 
heard  of  warm  bread  at  breakfast. 

"  On  Thursday  last  was  the  grand  naval  bill,  given  in  honor 
of  Captains  Hull,  Morris,  and  Stewart,  of  which  I  must  say  a 
few  words.  *  *  *  The  assembly  was  crowded  with  a  more  than 
usual  portion  of  the  youth  and  beauty  of  the  city,  and  was  the 
scene  of  an  unprecedented  event — two  British  flags  unfurled 
and  hung  as  trophies  in  an  American  assembly  by  American 
sailors.  lo  triumphe  !  Before  we  started,  our  house  had  been 


MRS.  JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS.  31 1 

illuminated  in  token  of  our  cheerful  accordance  with  the  general 
joy  which  pervaded  the  city,  manifested  by  nearly  every  window 
being  more  or  less  lighted.  This  was  inspiring,  and  calculated 
to  give  every  patriot  and  old  officer  in  Washington  an  inclina 
tion  to  join  in  the  festivities  of  an  event  devoted  to  the  pleasing 
task  of  paying  homage  to  the  bravery  and  politeness  of  the 
naval  heroes." 

James  Monroe,  who  succeeded  with  his  "era  of  good  feel 
ing,"  did  not  follow  the  free-and-easy  reunions,  parties,  balls,  and 
dinners,  under  the  auspices  of  Mrs.  Madison,  who  saw  every 
body,  visited  every  where,  and  allowed  no  distinction  of  sect  or 
party.  John  Quincy  Adams,  Mr.  Monroe's  Secretary  of  State, 
drew  up  a  severe  series  of  rules  of  etiquette,  which  gave  great 
offense.  But  when  the  President's  daughter,  Maria,  was  mar 
ried  to  her  cousin,  Sam  Gouverneur,  of  New  York,  she  had  quite 
a  reception  at  the  Presidential  Mansion,  Mrs.  Monroe,  her 
mother,  yielding  the  post  of  honor  to  the  bride,  and  mingling 
with  the  other  guests.  There  was  a  grand  birthnight  ball  at 
Washington  on  the  22d  of  February,  1821,  at  which  the  con 
trast  between  the  plain  attire  of  President  Monroe  and  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  the  splendid  costumes  and  decorations  of 
the  foreign  legations  was  much  remarked.  They  had  a  hand 
some  foreigner  present  in  the  person  of  the  new  British  Minis 
ter,  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  cousin  of  George  Canning,  afterward 
the  celebrated  Viscount  Stratford  de  Redcliffe. 

Of  course,  the  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams  was 
rather  austere.  His  wife,  Mrs.  Louisa  C.  Adams,  was  a  lady  of 
high  literary  tastes  and  great  precision  ;  and  it  is  not  going  too 
far  to  say  that  their  only  son,  the  present  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
owes  almost  as  much  to  her  care  and  attention  to  his  manners 
and  education  as  to  his  myriad-minded,  indefatigable,  and  illus 
trious  father.  They  succeeded  Monroe,  a  man  of  peace  with  a 
peaceful  administration,  and  they  had  a  hot  and  violent  time  of 
it  for  four  years.  John  Randolph  openly  charged  Henry  Clay 


312  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

with  having  traded  off  the  vote  of  Kentucky  for  a  place  in  the 
Adams  Cabinet,  and  George  Kremer  cried  aloud  and  spared 
not.  Andrew  Jackson  felt  that  he  had  lost  the  glittering  prize, 
and  took  a  lofty  and  imperious  tone.  This  was  not  a  time  for 
poor  Mrs.  Adams  to  show  her  social  points,  however  graceful 
and  numerous. 

Mrs.  Andrew  Jackson  seldom  appeared  at  receptions  and 
other  public  entertainments.  She  was  a  plain,  domestic  wom 
an,  little  accustomed  to  society  and  devoted  to  her  husband, 
who,  in  turn,  showed  her  the  utmost  affection.  The  account  of 
her  burial,  by  Henry  A.  Wise,  in  his  book  lately  published,  is 
one  of  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  Old  Hickory's  private 
character.  The  first  lady  of  the  White  House  I  ever  saw  was 
Mrs.  James  K.  Polk,  in  1846.  She  presided  at  all  the  state 
dinners,  and  was  the  queen  of  her  own  social  circle ;  a  woman 
of  striking  presence,  stately  and  tall,  perhaps  a  little  too  formal 
and  cold,  yet  not  the  less  an  ornament  and  an  example.  Mrs. 
President  Pierce  was  in  such  ill-health  as  rarely  to  be  seen  save 
on  her  evenings  with  ladies.  Amiable,  gentle,  and  long-suffering, 
she  filled  the  picture  of  a  good  woman,  and  nothing  in  her  hus 
band's  character  stands  more  to  his  credit  than  his  devotion  to 
her  during  her  painful  invalid  years.  Miss  Harriet  Lane  was 
the  most  accomplished  young  mistress  of  the  Presidential  Man 
sion  of  modern  times.  She  was  a  valuable  auxiliary  to  her 
uncle,  the  bachelor  President,  and  did  much  to  assuage  the 
asperities  of  his  unfortunate  administration.  Mrs.  Lincoln  was 
always  present  with  her  husband  at  public  dinners  and  recep 
tions,  conversed  freely,  and  took  pleasure  in  introducing  the 
wives  and  daughters  of  members  of  Congress.  Mrs.  A.  John 
son  was  rarely  seen  on  great  occasions,  but  was  beloved  by  all 
who  knew  her.  Of  Mrs.  Grant,  the  present  lady  of  the  White 
House,  it  only  needs  to  he  said  that  she  sustains  her  delicate 
position  with  quiet  dignity,  and  is  never  more  interesting  than 
when  surrounded  by  her  little  family  in  the  evening,  with  Mr. 


CALIFORNIA   ANNEXED.  313 

Dent,  her  aged  father,  at  her  side.  What  are  now  known  as 
great  state  dinners  do  not  severely  tax  the  hostess.  The  guests 
are  so  arranged  that  each  lady  is  only  called  on  to  converse 
with  her  next  neighbor,  and  thus  an  agreeable  evening  is  passed 
and  many  pleasant  acquaintances  formed.  The  President  is 
seated  opposite  Mrs.  Grant,  about  the  middle  of  the  table,  gen 
erally  between  two  of  the  loveliest  or  most  distinguished  ladies, 
while  Mrs.  Grant  is  flanked  by  the  two  most  eminent  men,  for 
eigners  or  natives,  among  the  company.  At  the  President's 
private  dinners  the  same  order  is  preserved,  only  ihat  there  is 
less  restraint,  and  more  of  the  freedom  of  the  family. 

In  that  delightful  book,  "  Sir  Henry  Holland's  Recollections,'1 
just  published,  there  is  a  sketch  of  one  of  the  famous  leaders 
of  British  society,  Lady  Holland,  which  shows  what  peculiar 
qualities  were  required  when  the  wife,  so  to  speak,  is  empress 
of  the  household.  Like  Lady  Blessington,  Lady  Holland  is  a 
historical  character,  and  if  there  are  any  who  resemble  her  in 
these  days  they  have  not  perhaps  the  same  opportunities  for 
display  and  distinction. 

[April  7, 1872.] 


LXVI. 

AN  attack  upon  the  policy  of  the  Mexican  war  and  the  an 
nexation  of  Texas  always  disposes  me  to  direct  attention  to  the 
results  of  the  conquest  or  purchase  of  California  and  the  open 
ing  of  our  way  to  the  Pacific  on  the  thirty-second  parallel. 
When  Robert  J.  Walker,  who  was  perhaps  the  most  active  en 
gineer  of  the  annexation  scheme,  wrote  his  celebrated  letter  in 
its  favor,  he  pleaded  with  prophetic  ken  for  its  effect  on  the 
whole  country.  The  future  vindicated  his  views,  and  gave  him 
an  opportunity  to  resist,  on  a  broader  field  and  with  resplendent 

O 


314  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

disinterestedness,  the  efforts  of  the  Disunionists  to  use  their 
new  advantages  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Government.  The 
slaveholders  gave  quick  and  earnest  support  to  the  Texas  pro 
gramme,  and  they  sent  their  best  material  into  the  war  against 
Mexico,  but  they  soon  realized  that  freedom  could  spread  as 
well  as  slavery,  and  that  the  more  it  was  distributed  the  stronger 
it  was.  They  met  a  fearful  fall  when  they  tried  to  divide  Cali 
fornia  in  1850,  so  as  to  reserve  half  of  it  for  the  peculiar  institu 
tion;  and  they  were  still  more  disappointed  when  California  re 
fused  to  follow  them  in  their  spoliation  of  Kansas  in  1855,  '56, 
'57  ;  and  later  still,  in  1861/62,  when  the  Pacific  State,  set  apart 
as  an  outlying  fortress  of  slavery,  became  one  of  the  chief  bul 
warks  of  the  Union. 

But  I  did  not  sit  down  to  write  politics,  or  to  show  how  Provi 
dence  overthrows  the  best-laid  plans  of  ambitious  men,  but  to 
restore  to  the  memory  of  my  readers  some  of  those  who  figured 
in  the  early  days  of  California.  These  were  all  in  the  prime 
of  life,  most  of  them  young,  and  all  of  them  seeking  their  for 
tunes.  They  came  from  various  sections.  Young  Fremont, 
who  in  his  twenty-seventh  year  explored  the  South  Pass,  and 
afterward  penetrated  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Great 
Salt  Lakes,  and  still  later  unfolded  Alta  California,  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  the  valleys  of  the  San  Joaquin  and  the  Sacramento, 
was  the  first  United  States  Senator  after  the  war  and  the  ratifi 
cation  of  the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe-Hidalgo.  This  was  in  1850, 
when  he  was  thirty-six  years  old.  I  remember  him  well,  his 
quiet  manners  and  his  youthful  figure.  His  colleague,  Dr.  Wil 
liam  M.  Gwin,  of  Mississippi,  who  had  grown  to  be  a  veteran  in 
the  bitter  conflicts  of  the  South,  where  he  had  held  any  number 
of  places,  emigrated  to  California,  like  the  rest,  to  better  his 
condition,  and  was  made  a  Senator  in  Congress  in  1850  for  six 
years.  He  was  then  just  forty-five,  full  of  vigor,  resources,  busy, 
continuous,  and  resolute,  not  over-scrupulous,  and  intensely  am 
bitious.  His  wife  was  exactly  the  mate  for  such  a  man ;  fash- 


CALIFORNIAN    REPRESENTATIVES.  315 

ionable,  liberal,  dashing,  generous,  and  full  of  Southern  partiali 
ties.  Their  house  was  as  hospitable  as  plenty  of  money  and 
pleasant  people  could  make  it.  George  H.  Wright  was  then  a 
Representative  in  the  House  in  1850-51.  He  is  now  a  resi 
dent  of  Washington,  and  a  sound  Republican.  In  1852  MUton 
S.  Latham  came  to  Washington  as  a  Representative  from  Cali 
fornia.  He  was  just  twenty-five  when  he  took  his  seat — a  hand 
some  boy,  who,  after  a  short  career  in  Alabama,  had  emigrated, 
in  his  twenty-third  year,  to  the  Golden  State.  He  was  modest 
and  graceful,  made  a  good  sophomore  speech,  was  never  violent, 
and  soon  conciliated  great  favor.  Few  men  have  enjoyed  more 
of  the  world's  smiles  and  favors,  and  few  deserved  them  more 
than  this  young  man.  He  was  clerk  of  the  Recorder's  Court 
of  San  Francisco  in  1850,  district  attorney  in  1851,  Representa 
tive  in  Congress  in  1852,  and  declined  a  re-election ;  was  Col 
lector  of  the  Port  of  San  Francisco  in  1855,  elected  Governor 
of  California  in  1860,  and  three  days  after  his  inauguration 
chosen  a  Senator  in  Congress  for  six  years.  He  was  always 
moderate  in  his  politics,  though  a  Democrat;  liked  Douglas  and 
Breckinridge;  was  a  close  friend  of  Andy  Johnson,  and  never 
"  fell  out,"  I  believe,  with  Hotspur  Wigfall  or  dogmatic  Toombs. 
He  was  even  and  genial  to  all ;  had  no  angular  points,  and 
made  money  with  the  ease  of  a  fortune's  favorite.  He  is  now 
living  at  San  Francisco,  a  millionaire  at  forty-five,  having  had 
an  experience  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  unusual  in  any  man's 
history,  with  perhaps  as  many  years  before  him  in  which  to  in 
crease  and  enjoy  his  large  possessions.  Of  a  widely  different 
type  was  E.  C.  Marshall,  who  went  forth  from  Kentucky  to  Cali 
fornia  about  the  same  time,  and  sat  in  the  House  with  Latham 
as  his  colleague.  He  was  a  genius ;  impetuous,  blind,  reck 
less  ;  a  true  scion  of  a  gifted  and  eccentric  race.  Some  of  his 
speeches  were  gems ;  but  he  had  no  system,  and  wasted  his  gifts 
lavishly,  while  the  more  prudent  Latham  carefully  garnered  and 
added  to  his.  Then  came  the  big-brained  James  A.  McDougall, 


316  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

born  in  New  York,  thence  removing  to  Illinois,  and  in  1850 
settling  down  in  California,  where,  after  other  service,  he  was 
chosen  to  succeed  Latham  in  the  House.     What  a  handsome 
fellow  he  was  in  1853,  in  his  thirty-seventh  year,  and  how  he 
flamed  in  debate  !     He  ought  to  be  living  to-day,  and  would  be 
if  he  had  been  a  little  less  selfish.    John  B.  Weller,  of  Ohio,  trans 
planted  himself  to  California  in  the  exodus  of  1846,  succeeded 
Fremont  in  the  Senate  in  1851,  and  was  afterward  Governor  of 
the  State.     He  is,  I  believe,  still  living  in  California.     Thomas 
J.  Henly,  of  Indiana,  belonged  to  the  same  emigration.     He 
made  the  longest  and  best  stump  speeches  I  ever  heard,  and 
could  hold  a  crowd  together  for  four  hours  at  a  stretch.     Brod- 
erick,  "the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all,"  was,  I  think,  in  the 
mines  as  early  as  1845.     He  fled  from  New  York  and  its  deg 
radations,  and  dug  for  a  living  in  the  gulches;  but  he  was 
soon  called  forth  to  lead  in  the  formation  of  the  constitution  of 
the  new  State,  and  to  sit  in  and  preside  over  the  State  Senate. 
Chosen  a  Senator  in  Congress  in  1856,  and  refusing  to  sanction 
the  treachery  of  Buchanan  on  the  Kansas  question,  he  was  kill 
ed  in  a  duel  by  a  Southern  Secessionist  in  September  of  1859. 
John  Conness,  one  of  the  disciples  of  Broderick,  was  one  of  the 
first  emigrants  to  California,  and  served  in  various  public  posi 
tions  till  he  was  chosen  a  Senator  in  Congress  in  1863. 

The  gold  discovery,  following  directly  after  the  conquest  of 
California,  stimulated  the  rush  from  the  old  States,  North  and 
South.  That  revelation  made  the  ancient  Spanish  settlement 
the  seat  of  a  new  American  empire.  It  seemed  a  providential 
sequel  to  a  great  national  event;  and  you  will  note  how  the 
men  I  have  named  were  moulded  and  mastered  in  the  develop 
ments  of  the  times.  Every  one  of  them  left  home  a  pro-slavery 
Democrat,  with  the  exception  of  General  Fremont;  and  they 
were  either  forced  into  sympathy  with  the  rebellion,  and  with 
its  collapse  closed  their  political  career,  or  took  bold  ground 
against  the  rebellion,  and  so  live  in  the  gratitude  of  posterity. 


DANIEL   E.  SICKLES.  317 

California  is  no  longer  an  outpost  of  slavery  or  Democracy. 
New  men  have  succeeded  the  pioneers ;  men  like  Cole,  Sargent, 
and  Lowe.  The  bad  influence  that  ruled  the  State  has  passed 
away.  The  old,  slow  ocean  passage  has  yielded  to  the  genius 
of  the  rail.  Continents  make  treaties  by  telegraph  and  inter 
change  commodities  by  steam.  Distant  nations  are  made  neigh 
bors,  and  thoughts  that  could  only  be  spoken  or  written  for  a 
few,  twenty  years  ago,  fly  in  an  instant  into  millions  of  minds  in 
the  remotest  regions.  The  ideas  of  Broderick  and  Baker  and 
Starr  King  survive  the  evil  sophistries  of  Gwin  and  Weller,  and 
leaven  the  whole  mass  of  dogmas  that  came  so  near  losing  for 
us  a  country. 

[April  14, 1872.] 


LXVII. 

IN  1853,  when  President  Pierce  nominated  James  Buchanan 
as  Minister  to  England,  the  Senate  was  on  the  point  of  adjourn 
ing  without  confirming  the  Pennsylvania  statesman,  and  he 
positively  refused  to  accept  unless  he  was  confirmed.  Hon. 
Richard  Brodhead,  a  Senator  in  Congress  from  Pennsylvania, 
since  deceased,  was  an  opponent  of  Buchanan,  and  it  was  diffi 
cult  to  secure  his  vote  for  the  new  Minister  •  but  Mr.  Marcy, 
Secretary  of  State,  and  the  President,  finally  succeeded  in  con 
ciliating  him,  and  J.  B.  was  put  through,  and  began  to  prepare 
for  his  mission.  His  first  solicitude  was  to  secure  a  competent 
Secretary  of  Legation,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  had  any  such  per 
son  in  view.  I  said  I  had  not ;  knowing  that  Mr.  Buchanan 
was  not  easy  to  please  in  such  matters,  and  believing  that  in 
the  choice  of  his  confidential  assistant  he  ought  to  act  for  him 
self.  Shortly  after  this  conversation,  however,  I  visited  New 
York,  and  met  a  gentleman  whose  talents  and  address  seemed 


318  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

to  fit  him  for  the  post.  This  was  the  present  General  Daniel 
E.  Sickles,  then  the  prominent  young  leader  of  the  Democracy 
of  the  Empire  State.  He  was  in  his  thirty-fourth  year,  in  the 
flush  of  a  full  practice  at  the  bar,  and  in  the  receipt  of  a  large 
income  at  the  head  of  the  law  department  of  the  city.  I  said 
to  him  one  day,  "  How  would  you  like  to  be  Secretary  of  Le 
gation  under  Mr.  Buchanan,  the  new  Minister  to  London  ?" 
"What's  the  pay?"  "Twenty-five  hundred  dollars  a  year." 
"  Why,  bless  you,  my  dear  fellow,  that  would  hardly  pay  for  my 
wine  and  cigars.  My  annual  income  is  fifteen  times  more  than 
that ;  I  could  not  think  of  such  a  sacrifice."  But  the  next  day 
he  thought  better  of  it.  A  year  or  two  at  the  British  Court, 
with  opportunities  to  see  Paris  and  the  Continent,  began  to  be 
attractive  to  him,  and  he  said  he  would  give  up  his  splendid 
business  for  the  time  and  go.  He  had  never  seen  Mr.  Buchan 
an,  and  the  latter  only  knew  him  as  a  brilliant  lawyer,  politi 
cian,  and  man  of  the  world,  who  had  a  host  of  friends  and  not 
a  few  enemies,  like  all  men  of  force  and  originality.  I  wrote 
to  Wheatland,  announcing  that  Mr.  Sickles  would  accept  the 
post,  and  that  he  would  call  on  him  in  a  day  or  two.  The  vet 
eran  statesman  was  most  favorably  impressed,  and  nominated 
Sickles  as  his  Secretary  of  Legation.  Sickles  did  not  belong 
to  the  Marcy  wing  of  the  party  in  New  York,  and  the  ancient 
Secretary  of  State  stoutly  objected  to  his  appointment ;  but  Gen 
eral  Pierce  interposed,  and  the  new  Secretary  of  Legation  got 
his  commission.  I  was,  of  course,  anxious  to  know  how  the 
bright  and  daring  youngster  got  on  with  the  staid  old  bachelor, 
and  at  last  I  heard  from  the  latter  something  like  this :  "  Your 
Secretary  of  Legation  is  a  pleasant  companion,  but  he  writes  a 
very  bad  hand,  and  spends  a  great  deal  of  money."  And 
again :  "  Sickles  writes  as  bad  a  hand  as  you  do,  but  I  find  him 
a  very  able  lawyer,  and  of  great  use  to  me."  They  got  on  very 
well,  though  not  without  some  amusing  experiences.  One  is 
worth  referring  to,  and  I  wish  my  readers  could  hear  General 


AN    ENGLISH   TAVERN-BILL.  319 

Sickles  tell  it  in  his  own  inimitable  way.  The  American  lega 
tion,  including  the  ladies,  were  invited  to  dine  with  a  person  of 
high  rank,  a  duchess,  residing  near  London,  and  they  proceed 
ed  in  their  carriages  to  her  residence.  Their  coachmen  and 
other  attendants,  under  the  direction  of  General  Sickles,  drove 
back  to  the  little  inn  hard  by,  to  feed  their  horses  and  take  care 
of  themselves  till  the  hour  for  the  return  of  the  party ;  and  the 
young  secretary  told  them  to  have  "  a  good  time."  On  the  re 
turn  of  the  legation  Mr.  Buchanan  ordered  the  carriages  to  stop 
at  the  English  inn,  that  he  might  pay  the  bill  of  mine  host,  who 
soon  appeared  with  his  "  little  claim."  It  was  a  startling  array 
of  charges  for  all  sorts  of  delicacies,  including  a  full  English 
dinner,  with  "  the  materials,"  and  amounted  to  five  pounds,  or 
$25.  "  Five  pounds  !"  exclaimed  Old  Buck  in  amazement;  "I 
never  heard  of  such  a  thing  in  all  my  life."  "  Let  me  pay  the 
bill,"  said  Sickles,  in  his  cool  way;  "I  told  the  boys  to  enjoy 
themselves,  and  I  am  to  blame."  "  No,  sir,"  was  the  severe  re 
ply,  "  I  will  pay  it  myself,  and  will  keep  it  as  a  souvenir  of  En 
glish  extortion  and  of  your  economy.  Why,  my  dear  sir,  do  you 
know  I  could  have  got  just  as  good  a  dinner  for  twenty-five 
cents  apiece  at  John  Michael's,  sign  of  'The  Grapes,'  in  my  own 
town  of  Lancaster,  as  this  man  has  charged  a  pound  a  head 
for?  No,  sir;  I  will  keep  this  bill  as  a  curiosity  of  its  kind,  an 
autograph  worthy  of  historical  mention."  The  incident  marked 
the  difference  between  the  men — the  open-hearted  generosity 
of  the  Secretary  and  the  exact  business  habits  of  the  Minister. 
Some  men  crowd  a  year  into  a  month ;  others  vegetate  in 
aimless  and  eventless  routine.  Some  give  a  life  to  the  collec 
tion  of  coins  and  insects ;  others  are  happy  in  the  study  of  old 
pictures,  or  busy  themselves  in  figuring  how  to  pay  off  the  na 
tional  debt,  or  lose  themselves  in  vainly  seeking  for  perpetual 
motion  ;  and  one  of  the  best  I  know  spends  most  of  his  days  in 
collecting  autographs,  and  especially  in  filling  books  with  the 
original  letters  and  photographs  of  certain  characters,  so  that 


320  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

when  he  dies  he  may  be  remembered  as  the  owner  and  com 
piler  of  volumes  of  which  there  can  be  no  copies  or  duplicates. 

But  here  is  one  still  in  his  prime — he  was  fifty  last  October — 
whose  career  has  been  as  diversified  and  romantic  as  if  he  had 
filled  out  a  full  century  of  endless  action.  He  was  a  printer 
before  he  read  law ;  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Assembly 
when  he  was  twenty-six ;  a  State  Senator  when  he  was  thirty-five  : 
then  Secretary  of  Legation  at  London,  where  he  met  and  min 
gled  with  the  best  minds;  afterward  two  terms  in  Congress;  an 
early  volunteer  against  the  rebellion,  losing  his  leg  at  Gettysburg 
in  1863 ;  then  one  of  the  chief  agents  as  Military  Governor  in  the 
reconstruction  of  North  and  South  Carolina ;  and  now  Ameri 
can  Minister  to  the  Spanish  Court.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  sad 
dest  page  of  his  experience  save  to  prove  that  he  has  outlived 
it,  nor  yet  to  his  intermediate  labors  as  orator,  journalist,  advo 
cate,  and  counselor.  He  is  what  one  might  call  a  lawyer  by 
intuition ;  careful  in  reaching  his  conclusions,  but  quick  and 
bold  in  pushing  them ;  as  a  speaker,  incisive,  clear,  and  logical ; 
as  a  controversialist,  cool  and  wary.  His  recent  coup  d'etat 
against  the  Erie  ring  would  alone  make  any  man  famous.  Few 
characters  in  our  country,  or  in  our  history,  have  passed  through 
so  many  ordeals.  Tried  for  his  life,  hunted  by  fierce  and  des 
perate  foes,  tabooed  under  a  relentless  though  temporary  ostra 
cism,  periling  his  life  in  battle,  and  saving  it  only  at  the  cost 
of  a  fearful  mutilation,  he  survives  to  teach  to  his  countrymen 
the  lesson  beautifully  set  forth  in  his  speech  on  the  2d  of  Octo 
ber,  1868,  from  the  portico  of  the  Union  League  of  Philadel 
phia,  and  now  most  worthy  of  reproduction : 

"I  see  thousands  and  thousands  of  men,  formerly  of  the 
Democratic  party,  who  have  determined  no  longer  to  be  ruled 
by  it ;  and  if  the  Democratic  party  determine  not  to  see  the  fut 
ure  that  shall  lead  them  to  a  better  course,  the  Union  party  of 
this  country  will  illumine  the  path  that  will  lead  them  to  a  bet 
ter  conclusion.  No  disloyal  party  can  ever  gain  control  of  this 


TIME'S  CHANGES.  321 

country.  As  well  might  George  III.  again  stretch  his  long  hand 
to  seize  the  starry  coronet  of  the  Colonies ;  as  well  might  the 
Mohawks,  the  Cherokees,  and  the  Mohicans  claim  again  their 
lost  hunting-grounds,  or  attempt  to  drive  back  civilization  to 
the  sea,  as  that  old  slave  dynasty  ever  again  attempt  to  resume 
sway  in  this  land  of  justice  and  loyalty." 
[April  21, 1872.] 


LXVIII. 

CONGRESSIONAL  habits  and  manners  have  changed  with  the 
times,  and  the  change  is  marvelous.     In  fact,  social  life  at  the 
nation's  capital  has  itself  been  revolutionized.     If  you  look 
down  from  the  galleries  of  the  two  houses,  or  step  into  the  old 
Senate  Chamber,  now  the  Supreme  Court-room,  you  will  see 
how  thorough  is  the  revolution.     Colored  men  in  Congress, 
colored  men  before  the  highest  judicial  tribunal,  also  colored 
men  in  the  local  courts,  deliberate  and  practice  without  insult 
or  interruption.     In  1857-58  a  white  man  could  not  safely  ad 
vocate  ordinary  justice  to  a  black  man.     He  was  subjected  to 
inconceivable  obloquy,  not  alone  in   the  Legislatures,  but  in 
society.     Nothing  but  illustrious  services  or  great  moral  cour 
age  secured  decent  toleration  to  such  an  offender.     The  South 
ern  leaders  were  models  of  politeness  till  their  peculiar  institu 
tion  was  touched.     Then  the  mask  was  dropped,  and  arrogance 
expelled  all  courtesy.     Nobody  who  did  not  agree  with  them 
was  invited  to  their  houses,  and,  as  they  controlled  the  Admin 
istration,  of  whatever  party,  the  few  anti-slavery  men  had  to  live 
among  themselves.     Now  all  is  changed.     Men  meet  together 
and  discuss  politics  like  philosophers.     Go  to  one  of  Fernando 
Wood's  great  parties,  and  you  find  people  of  all  opinions.    Look 
in  upon  one  of  Charles  Sumner's  unequaled  dinners,  and  you 

O  2 


322  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

see  him  surrounded  with  Democrats  like  Thurman,  of  Ohio,  and 
Casserly,  of  California.  Call  on  brave  Ben  Butler  at  one  of  his 
receptions,  and  note  among  his  guests  many  whom  he  has  most 
steadily  antagonized.  When  Thaddeus  Stevens  lived,  his  most 
intimate  companion  at  whist  and  euchre  was  the  venerable 
John  Law,  the  distinguished  Democrat  from  the  Indianapolis 
district.  But  in  nothing  is  the  change  more  marked  than  in  the 
manners  of  the  two  houses.  First  is  the  evident  absence  of 
public  dissipation — that  fruitful  source  of  evil  during  the  old 
slave  regime.  You  do  not  see  men  inflamed  by  bad  whisky 
seeking  quarrels  with  their  associates.  The  night  is  no  longer 
made  hideous  by  personal  altercations.  The  bowie-knife,  the 
pistol,  the  bludgeon,  lie  buried  in  the  grave  with  secession  and 
State  rights.  There  are  lively  disputes,  of  course ;  Butler  and 
Sunset  Cox  indulge  in  an  occasional  passage;  Schurz  and  Car 
penter  exchange  repartee;  and  now  and  then  Mr.Vorhees  flies 
his  eagles  with  angry  and  fervid  declamation ;  but  there  are  no 
hostile  messages,  no  clandestine  consultations,  no  summonses 
to  Bladensburg  or  Canada.  The  shots  that  are  fired  are  harm 
less;  the  swords  are  air-drawn;  the  fierce  charges  explode  in 
fruitless  investigations.  A  colored  member  is  listened  to  by 
respectful  houses,  and  silent  if  not  responsive  auditors ;  and  the 
extremest  Democrat,  even  from  the  South,  yields  a  hearing  and 
a  reply  to  a  man  like  Benjamin  Sterling  Turner,  the  Represent 
ative  in  Congress  from  Selma,  Alabama,  who  was  born  a  slave 
and  is  now  a  freeman.  How  wonderful  is  the  decay  of  prej 
udices  that  seemed  to  be  eternal !  Is  this  the  Capitol  in 
which  Sumner  fell  under  the  blows  of  Brooks  ?  From  which 
John  Quincy  Adams  was  sought  to  be  expelled  for  words  spoken 
in  debate  ?  In  which  Toombs  thundered,  Keitt  lightninged,  and 
Wigfall  threatened  ? 

And  as  I  turn  from  this  profound  lesson,  and  look  over  the 
fair  city  as  it  stretches  before  me  from  the  west  windows  of  the 
Congressional  Library — in  which  I  notice  colored  men  and 


NATIONAL   CONVENTIONS.  323 

women  reading  in  the  quiet  alcoves  —  I  find  other  and  even 
better  manners.  Cars  traversing  streets  as  clean  as  those  of 
Paris  in  her  best  days,  and  carrying  both  races  without  protest, 
even  from  the  delicate  ex-rebel  ladies  who  are  coming  back  to 
us  on  their  silken  wings,  ready  to  sell  guns  or  carry  claims,  as 
opportunity  offers ;  the  same  schools  for  the  education  of  black 
and  white;  colleges  for  the  education  of  the  freedmen;  a  great 
savings  bank,  in  which  the  millions  of  former  slaves  are  hoarded 
and  increased;  and,  above  all,  a  free  press,  that  prints  words 
and  distributes  thoughts  which  three  years  ago  would  have 
raised  a  mob  and  swung  the  writer  to  the  lamp-post  in  front  of 
his  burning  dwelling.  And  this  social,  political,  and  intellect 
ual  revolution  is  vindicated  by  results,  which,  like  the  glorious 
works  of  nature,  give  joy  to  all  and  real  sorrow  to  none.  The 
flowers  and  verdure  of  early  spring,  that  bloom  and  grow  all 
around  us,  are  not  more  truly  the  proofs  of  the  providence  of 
God  than  all  these  changed  manners  at  the  nation's  capital. 

[April  28, 1872.] 


LXIX. 

A  NATIONAL  Convention  of  delegates  representing  one  of 
the  great  political  parties  of  a  Republic  like  ours,  called  to  nom 
inate  a  candidate  for  President,  is  always  interesting.  No  other 
country  presents  such  a  spectacle.  The  best  ability  is  assem 
bled.  The  sages  and  statesmen  and  the  young  men  of  the 
party  take  part  in  the  deliberations,  which  are  frequently  inter 
rupted  by  high  excitement,  and  made  historical  by  electrical  dis 
plays  of  oratory.  The  vindication  by  Judge  Holt,  of  Kentucky, 
of  the  character  of  Richard  M.Johnson  in  the  National  Conven 
tion  at  Baltimore,  thirty-six  years  ago,  was  a  magnificent  burst 
of  eloquence.  I  read  it  in  Greeley's  New-Yorker,  of  that  day, 


324  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

which  spoke  of  it  as  a  gem  of  finished  rhetoric.     The  white- 
haired  statesman  who  rides  along  Pennsylvania  Avenue  every 
morning,  on  his  way  to  the  office  of  the  Judge  Advocate-Gen 
eral,  is  the  same  Joseph  Holt  whose  youthful  appearance  and 
splendid  argument  thrilled  the  people  in  1836.     W.L.Yancey, 
of  Alabama,  was  another  of  the  bright  lights  of  the  Democratic 
National  Convention,  and  was  a  captivating  speaker,  and,  like 
most  of  the  school  of  extreme  Southerners,  exceedingly  courte 
ous  and  refined.     Never  shall  I  forget  the  debate  between  Ben 
jamin  F.Butler,  Mr.  Van  Buren's  ex- Attorney-General,  and  Rob 
ert  J.  Walker,  Senator  in  Congress  from  Mississippi,  in  the  con 
vention  of  1844,  on  the  two-thirds  rule.     Van  Buren,  defeated 
in  1840  by  Harrison,  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  nomination, 
but  he  had  faltered  on  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and,  though  he 
had  a  clear  majority  of  the  delegates,  the  adoption  of  the  two- 
thirds  rule  ruined  his  prospects.     Butler  was  no  match  for  the 
keen  little  Senatorial  Saladin;  and  when  he  rose  to  reply  the 
House  had  already  been  conquered  by  the  logic  of  his  adver 
sary.    That  convention  was  James  Buchanan's  first  appearance 
as  an  aspirant  for  President,  and  had  he  remained  in  the  field 
he  would  assuredly  have  been  the  candidate  against  Mr.  Clay. 
Polk  was  an  accidental  selection,  and  was  never  dreamed  of 
till  the  conflict  made  a  compromise  necessary.     In  1848  Van 
Buren's  men  took  ample  revenge  by  running  him  as  a  volunteer 
candidate  for  President,  and  so  defeating  Cass  and  electing 
Taylor.     Buchanan's  adherents  were  on  the  ground,  but  he  had 
contrived  to  lose  the  friendship  of  many  of  the  leading  men  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  coldly  jostled  off  the  track.     In  that 
convention  Preston  King  was  the  Van  Buren  leader,  backed  by 
David  Wilmot,  and  when  New  York  seceded  the  doom  of  the 
party  was  sounded.     Daniel  S.  Dickinson  headed  the  New  York 
Hunkers,  and  took  strong  ground  against  the  Little  Magician, 
as  Van  Buren  was  called.     King  was  cool,  calm,  and  resolved, 
Dickinson  witty  and  sarcastic,  Wilmot  aggressive  and  defiant. 


PRESIDENTIAL   CANDIDATES.  325 

In  1852  Mr.  Buchanan  was  again  presented  and  defeated,  Frank 
Pierce,  another  Accident,  winning  the  prize.  That  year  sound 
ed  the  death-knell  of  the  old  Whig  party.  Rufus  Choate  was 
present  in  the  Whig  National  Convention  as  the  champion  of 
Daniel  Webster,  and  made  a  speech  of  marvelous  force  and 
beauty  in  his  support,  but  in  vain.  The  politicians  wanted  an 
Availability,  and  got  him  in  General  Scott,  who  was  overthrown 
in  November  by  the  Democrats.  On  the  fourth  trial,  in  1856,  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  successful  at  Cincinnati,  because  of  his  supposed 
identity  with  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  making  Kansas  a  free 
State.  That  event  lost  Judge  Douglas  his  chance.  He  was 
taken  to  Charleston,  S.  C.,  in  1860,  and  there  defrauded,  in  ad 
vance  of  his  more  deliberate  slaughter  at  the  adjourned  con 
vention  in  Baltimore.  Young  Breckinridge  was  the  candidate 
of  the  extremists  of  that  year,  a  curious  sequel  in  a  life  which 
opened  in  1851  in  Congress  in  avowed  sympathy  with  the  anti- 
slavery  idea. 

Henry  A.  Wise,  in  his  late  work  on  John  Tyler,  reveals  a  pict 
ure  of  the  disappointed  ambition  of  Henry  Clay,  when  in  1840 
he  failed  of  the  Whig  nomination,  and  when  he  could  easily 
have  defeated  Van  Buren.  Alas  !  his  fate  had  been  the  fate  of 
many.  Crawford,  Calhoun,  Cass,  Douglas,  all  felt  the  same 
sharp  sting  before  they  were  called  away,  and  even  some  of 
those  who  won  the  golden  bauble  lived  to  find  it  a  barren 
sceptre.  A  candidate  for  President  soon  realizes  the  value  of 
political  fealty,  and  I  have  often  thought  that  in  the  nervous 
struggle  for  that  high  honor  even  the  best  man  loses  faith  in 
others,  and  forgets  his  own  obligations  in  his  distrust  of  his  sup 
porters.  The  vast  patronage  of  the  office,  and  the  vexations 
and  heart-burnings  of  those  who  seek  place,  open  a  wide  avenue 
to  intrigue  and  deception.  And  yet,  as  a  general  thing,  the 
conventions  of  the  past  have  not  been  disgraced  by  corruption. 
Douglas  was  undoubtedly  juggled  in  1860,  but  there  was  no 
direct  use  of  money.  He  was  simply  overborne  by  the  South. 


326  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Lincoln  was  fairly  chosen  by  the  Republicans  that  year,  but  not 
until  Mr.  Seward  had  come  to  grief  by  having  been  compelled 
to  drink  of  the  bitter  cup  drained  before  by  Cass,  Webster,  and 
Clay. 

As  population  increases  and  the  Government  grows  more  and 
more  imperial,  these  quadrennial  National  Conventions  become 
intensely  important.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  that  they  are 
the  best  methods  for  choosing  Presidential  candidates,  and  the 
fierce  struggle  for  the  control  of  the  Government  is  itself  one 
of  the  strong  points  in  our  system.  That  which  adjourned  in 
Cincinnati  on  Friday  was  more  like  a  great  town  meeting  than 
a  National  Convention  ;  but  its  work  will  be  felt  far  and  near. 
Among  the  characters  most  talked  about  in  that  body  is  Colo 
nel  A.  K.  McClure,  of  Pennsylvania.  He  is  in  the  prime  of 
life,  about  forty-three,  of  herculean  frame,  at  least  six  feet  two, 
winning  address,  and  great  powers  of  endurance.  His  career 
has  been  full  of  incident.  Beginning  life  poor,  as  a  country 
printer,  he  afterward  studied  law,  and  soon  became  a  Whig 
leader.  He  is  a  consummate  newspaper  writer,  and  a  fine 
speaker.  Bold,  dashing,  resolute,  and  full  of  resources,  he  is  a 
valuable  friend  and  a  dangerous  foe.  Among  all  the  diversified 
elements  of  the  Cincinnati  gathering  there  was  no  one  man,  not 
even  Carl  Schurz,  who  has  a  better  knowledge  of  public  men 
and  manners  than  McClure.  I  say  all  this  the  more  freely 
because  I  think  he  has  committed  an  irreparable  mistake  in 
opposing  President  Grant's  re-election ;  but  as  he  owns  him 
self,  I  presume  he  best  knows  what  he  is  about. 

[May  5, 1872.] 


PRESIDENTIAL   LITERATURE.  327 


LXX. 

A  PRESIDENTIAL  election  always  has  its  comic  side,  and  if 
some  of  our  book-makers  would  study  the  newspapers  of  the 
time,  a  mass  of  genuine  wit  and  humor  could  be  collected.  The 
songs  of  the  period,  the  jokes,  the  travesties,  the  satire,  would 
fill  volumes.  Franklin  would  have  made  a  splendid  campaigner, 
with  his  keen  sarcasm  and  his  homely  phrases,  but  he  died  be 
fore  the  close  of  Washington's  first  term  (April,  1790),  and 
before  he  could  realize  the  passions  and  prejudices  that  after 
ward  entered  into  these  quadrennial  struggles.  The  libels  of 
Freneau,  the  fierce  invectives  of  Cobbett,  the  short  paragraphs 
of  John  Binns,  all  of  them  first  appearing  in  Philadelphia,  would 
interest  the  country  if  they  could  be  reproduced  to-day.  George 
Dennison  Prentice  was,  however,  the  prince  of  this  style  of 
writing.  Beginning  as  the  editor  of  the  Louisville  Journal,  in 
1831,  he  soon  became  a  host  in  the  opposition  to  Jackson,  Van 
Buren,  Polk,  and  other  Democratic  Presidents,  and  his  epigrams, 
bright  and  sharp,  often  bordering  on  the  severest  personality, 
were  far  more  effective  than  the  heavy  coluYnns  of  his  editorial 
foes,  Duff  Green,  Shad  Penn,  Francis  P.  Blair,  and  Thomas 
Ritchie.  And  yet,  while  he  could  sting  like  a  hornet,  he  could 
sing  like  a  nightingale.  It  is  not  often  that  one  who  distilled 
such  venom  into  his  paragraphs,  could  exhale  so  much  sweet 
fragrance  from  his  poems.  We  had  a  rougher  wit  in  William 
B.  Conway,  the  editor  of  a  little  Democratic  paper  called  The 
Mountaineer,  printed  in  Cambria  County,  Pennsylvania,  who 
threw  off  some  of  the  finest  party  so  rigs-,  and  repartees  of  his 
time. 

To  Mr.  Greeley,  however,  must  be  assigned  the  post  of  honor 
in  making  this  sort  of  literature  an  effective  weapon  in  Presi 
dential  elections.  He  started  The  Log  Cabin,  in  1840,  to  aid 
in  the  election  of  Harrison  and  Tyler,  and  threw  such  force  and 


328  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

variety  into  it  that  it  soon  ran  into  an  immense  circulation,  and 
became  the  basis  of  The  Tribune,  established  in  1841.  A  file  of 
The  Log  Cabin  would  be  choice  reading,  now  that  Mr.  Greeley 
is  himself  a  candidate  for  the  highest  office  in  the  nation,  and 
might  be  a  model  and  guide  to  those  who  desire  to  make  merry 
at  the  Philosopher's  expense.  From  this  example  grew  an 
army  of  imitators  on  both  sides.  Greeley's  followers  sung  them 
selves  hoarse  for 

"  Tippecanoe,  and  Tyler,  too  ! " 

and  the  Van  Burenites  roared  for  their  favorite  in  the  famous 
ditty  beginning — 

"  When  this  old  hat  was  new 
Van  Buren  was  the  man." 

\Living  men  who  saw  those  days  will  not  forget  the  monster 
parades  of  the  Whigs  after  the  Maine  election  in  1840,  when 
they  chorused  the  popular  refrain,  opening  and  ending  with 

"  Oh  !  have  you  heard  the  news  from  Maine,  Maine,  Maine  ?" 
a  lesson  not  lost  upon  the  Democrats  four  years  after,  when 
they  took  up  the  same  song  and  thundered  it  back  upon  the 
Whigs,  who  lost  Maine  in  the  fall  elections,  and  the  Presidency 
in  the  November  following.  Tammany  Hall  came  forth  in  a 
tumultuous  delirium,  making  night  hideous  with  exulting  itera 
tion. 

The  elections  of  1840  and  1844  were  far  more  exciting  than 
any  of  previous  years,  excepting  always  that  of  General  Jackson 
in  1832,  and  the  amount  of  speaking  and  writing  was  prodigious. 
All  the  best  talent  of  those  talking  times  was  out :  William  Al 
len,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  Silas  A.  Wright,  Andrew  Stevenson, 
Robert  J.  Walker,  James  Buchanan,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  C.  C. 
Cambreling,  George  W.  Barton,  for  the  Democrats ;  Webster, 
Choate,  W.  C.  Preston,  S.  S.  Prentiss,  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  for 
the  Whigs,  called  out  fearful  crowds,  whose  glees  and  shouts 
rang  from  Maine  to  Georgia  in  response  to  the  humor  and  in 
vective  of  their  orators  and  organs.  Thomas  F.  Marshall's  eel- 


PICTORIAL   SATIRE.  329 

ebrated  speech  at  Nashville,  in  1844,  against  Polk,  contained 
an  allusion  to  Old  Hickory,  then  at  the  Hermitage,  and  even 
at  his  great  age  inspiring  his  hosts  of  friends,  which  ought  not 
to  be  lost)  I  quote  from  memory.  It  is  a  little  irreverent,  but 
there  is  a  spice  in  it  that  shows  how  freely  we  treated  our  idols 
a  generation  ago  : 

"  What  a  career  has  been  that  of  Andrew  Jackson  !  A  ca 
reer  of  success  by  brutal  self-will.  No  impediment  stood  in 
his  way.  If  he  saw  and  fancied  a  pretty  woman,  even  though 
she  was  another  man's  wife,  he  took  possession  of  her.  If  he 
entered  a  horse  at  a  race,  he  frightened  or  jockeyed  his  com 
petitor.  If  he  was  opposed  by  an  independent  man,  he  crushed 
him.  He  saw  the  country  prosperous  under  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  and  shattered  it  from  turret  to  foundation  stone. 
His  rule  has  been  ruin  to  this  people,  his  counsel  full  of  calam 
ity.  And  now,  when  he  is  approaching  his  last  hours,  when 
good  men  are  praying  that  he  may  be  punished  for  his  many 
misdeeds,  he  turns  Presbyterian  and  cheats  the  devil  himself" 

The  war  called  out  a  flood  of  witty  songs  and  speeches,  and 
much  fine  poetry  and  prose  in  both  sections,  only  a  portion  of 
which  has  formed  several  volumes  of  Frank  Moore's  invaluable 
"  Rebellion  Record ;"  but  peace  has  made  us  less  sentimental. 
Our  satire  now  takes  the  shape  of  caricature.  The  photograph 
and  the  printed  picture  supplant  the  paragraph  and  the  pali 
node.  Harper  and  Frank  Leslie  laugh  at  their  adversaries 
through  grotesque  illustrations,  and  millions  are  satisfied  or  ir 
ritated  by  sarcasm  that  needs  no  prose  to  strengthen,  and  no 
poetry  to  intensify. 

[May  12,  1872.] 


330  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 


LXXI. 

ONE  of  the  sweetest  poets  of  any  age  was  last  Tuesday,  May 
14,  1872,  laid  away  among  the  oaks   and  flowers   and  monu 
ments  of  Laurel  Hill  Cemetery,  Philadelphia.     Thomas  Bu 
chanan  Read,  in  his  fifty-first  year,  left  Rome  a  little  more  than 
a  month  ago  on  a  brief  visit  to  his  native  country,  and  on  his 
arrival  at  New  York  sent  me  his  card,  now  before  me,  with  these 
words:  "Shall  see  you  soon.     Am  coming  home  T     Poor  fel 
low  !     He  is  now  at  home— his  last  home.     Rarely  have  so 
many  gifts  been  found  in  one  man.     Painter,  sculptor,  poet; 
susceptible,  high-strung,  loving  his  country  and  his  friends,  his 
soul  was  too  intense  for  his  body,  and,  like  the  fabled  sword, 
literally  consumed  its  scabbard.     The  war  brought  us  close  to 
each  other.    Our  sympathies  were  in  common.    His  genial  nat 
ure,  his  genius,  his  brilliant  conversation,  his  tenacious  mem 
ory,  made  him  a  delightful  companion.    Now  he  is  gone,  I  love 
to  cherish  his  memory.     I  wish  I  could  describe  his  wit,  elo 
quence,  and  imagery.     The  rebellion  touched  his  every  chord, 
and  roused  him  to  superhuman  efforts.     His  loyalty  was  an 
ecstasy,  his  pictures  and  his  poems  were  effusions  of  purest  in 
spiration.     Who  will  forget,  that  ever  heard  it,  the  manner  in 
which  Murdoch  recited  the  great  ode  known  as  "  The  Patriot's 
Oath  ?"     I  serve  a  double  purpose  in  reproducing  it,  while  my 
friend's  grave  is  still  covered  with  the  freshest  and  loveliest 
flowers  of  May,  and  while  the  enemies  of  the  nation  are  or 
ganized  to  repossess  themselves  of  the  government.     The  cir 
cumstances  under  which  this  wonderful  lyric  was  composed  de 
serve  preservation.    The  news  of  the  brutal  murder  of  General 
Robert  McCook  by  guerrillas,  while  he  was  traveling  in  Ken 
tucky  during  the  war,  reached  Cincinnati  when  Mr.  Read  hap 
pened  to  be  in  that  city,  and  aroused  universal  indignation  and 
horror.     Mr.  Read  participated  in  this  sentiment,  and  applied 


READ   AND   MURDOCH.  331 

the  oath  of  the  ghost  in  Hamlet  with  thrilling  effect.  Shortly 
after,  Mr.  Murdoch  was  the  guest  of  a  Kentucky  loyalist,  at  his 
residence  in  Danville,  in  that  State.  While  partaking  of  his 
hospitalities,  in  company  with  a  number  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  neighborhood,  the  question  of  allegiance  to  the  General 
Government  was  warmly  discussed.  Mr.  Murdoch's  host  re 
marked  that  many  of  his  friends,  although  patriotic,  were  not 
so  clear  on  the  subject  of  putting  down  the  rebellion  as  he  could 
wish  them  to  be;  upon  which  Murdoch  said  he  did  not  desire 
a  controversy,  but  if  he  were  permitted  he  would  appeal  to  their 
sympathies  by  an  invocation  to  their  duty  and  their  principles. 
They  gladly  assented.  He  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  drawing- 
room  with  the  gentlemen  around  him,  and  there  recited  this 
magnificent  appeal.  Intense  silence  pervaded  the  assemblage. 
At  the  close  the  entire  group  was  spell-bound.  Tears  were 
streaming  down  the  cheeks  of  many,  while  others,  with  the  so 
lemnity  which  marked  the  absorbing  interest  awakened  by  the 
poet,  grasped  the  hands  of  their  neighbors.  The  host  turned 
to  the  sideboard  in  silence,  and  as  each  guest  raised  his  glass 
to  his  lips  there  was  a  pause  which  seemed  to  render  audible 
the  words  "We  Swear." 

"  Hamlet.  Swear  on  my  sword. 
Ghost  (below).  Swear !"— SHAKESPEARE. 

"  Ye  freemen,  how  long  will  ye  stifle 

The  vengeance  that  justice  inspires  ? 
With  treason  how  long  will  ye  trifle, 

And  shame  the  proud  name  of  your  sires  ? 
Out !  out  with  the  sword  and  the  rifle, 

In  defense  of  your  homes  and  your  fires  1 
The  flag  of  the  old  Revolution 

Swear  firmly  to  serve  and  uphold, 

That  no  treasonous  breath  of  pollution 

Shall  tarnish  one  star  on  its  fold. 

Swear ! 

And  hark  !  the  deep  voices  replying, 
From  graves  where  your  fathers  are  lying — 
'  Swear  !  oh,  swear  !' 


332  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

"  In  this  moment,  who  hesitates  barters 

The  rights  which  his  forefathers  won; 
He  forfeits  all  claim  to  the  charters 

Transmitted  from  sire  to  son. 
Kneel,  kneel  at  the  graves  of  our  martyrs, 

And  swear  on  your  sword  and  your  gunj 
Lay  up  your  great  oath  on  an  altar 

As  huge  and  as  strong  as  Stonehenge, 
And  then,  with  sword,  fire,  and  halter, 
Sweep  down  the  field  of  revenge. 

Swear ! 

And  hark  !  the  deep  voices  replying, 
From  graves  where  your  fathers  are  lying— 
'  Swear  !  oh,  swear  !' 

"  By  the  tombs  of  your  sires  and  brothers, 

The  host  which  the  traitors  have  slain; 
By  the  tears  of  your  sisters  and  mothers, 

In  secret  concealing  their  pain; 
The  grief  which  the  heroine  smothers, 
Consuming  the  heart  and  the  brain; 
By  the  sigh  of  the  penniless  widow, 

By  the  sob  of  our  orphans'  despair, 
Where  they  sit  in  their  sorrowful  shadow, 
Kneel,  kneel,  every  freeman,  and  swear  ! 

Swear ! 

And  hark  !  the  deep  voices  replying, 
From  graves  where  your  fathers  are  lying — 
'  Swear  !  oh,  swear  !' 

"  On  mounds  which  are  wet  with  the  weeping, 

Where  a  nation  has  bow'd  to  the  sod, 
Where  the  noblest  of  martyrs  are  sleeping, 

Let  the  wind  bear  your  vengeance  abroad  5 
And  your  firm  oaths  be  held  in  the  keeping 

Of  your  patriot  hearts  and  your  God; 
Over  Ellsworth,  for  whom  the  first  tear  rose, 

While  to  Baker  and  Lyon  you  look, 
By  Winthrop,  a  star  among  heroes, 

By  the  blood  of  our  murder'd  McCook, 
Swear ! 


T.  BUCHANAN    READ.  333 

And  hark  !  the  deep  voices  replying, 
From  graves  where  your  fathers  are  lying — 
'  Swear  !  oh,  swear  !'  " 

To  add  to  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  General  Robert 
McCook's  brother,  George,  was  present,  and  was  much  affected 
by  the  unexpected  mention  of  his  murdered  brother's  name. 
"  The  Oath,"  rehearsed  by  Murdoch,  is  a  drama  in  itself.  Those 
present  when,  at  the  request  of  the  lamented  Lincoln,  he  re 
peated  it  in  the  House  of  Representatives  during  the  war,  can 
vividly  recall  its  effect.  I  have  on  more  than  one  occasion 
witnessed  the  involuntary  answer  of  thousands  to  this  electric 
invocation.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  how  it  must  have  been  re 
ceived  by  the  soldiers  in  the  field  when  the  enthusiastic  histrion 
visited  their  camps.  Identified  with  the  war,  he  was  particu 
larly  attached  to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Lincoln  to  him,  so  it 
happened  that  many  of  his  productions  had  reference  to  the 
Martyr.  One  of  the  most  prophetic  of  these  were  the  allusions 
in  "  The  New  Pastoral,"  a  poem  written  by  Buchanan  Read  in 
1850,  which  Murdoch  read  for  the  first  time  in  the  Hall  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  1864,  at  a  benefit  for  the  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers.  Just  as  he  uttered  the  following  prophecy 
concerning  the  future,  Lincoln  entered  the  chamber  and  took 
a  seat  on  the  right  of  the  Speaker's  stand  : 

"  Let  Contemplation  view  the  future  scene  : 
Afar  the  woods  before  the  vision  fly, 
Swift  as  the  shadow  o'er  the  meadow  grass 
Chased  by  the  sunshine,  and  a  realm  of  farms 
O'erspread  the  country  wide,  where  many  a  spire 
Springs  in  the  valleys,  and  on  distant  hills, 
The  watch-towers  of  the  land.     Here  quiet  herds 
Shall  crop  the  ample  pasture,  and  on  slopes 
Doze  through  the  summer  noon  ;  while  every  beast 
Which  prowls  a  terror  to  the  frontier  fold, 
Shall  only  live  in  some  remembered  tale, 
Told  by  tradition  in  the  lighted  hall, 
Where  the  red  grate  usurps  the  wooded  hearth. 


334  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Here  shall  the  city  spread  its  noisy  streets, 
And  groaning  steamers  chafe  along  the  wharves ; 
While  hourly  o'er  the  plain,  with  streaming  plume, 
Like  a  swift  herald  bringing  news  of  peace, 
The  rattling  train  shall  fly ;  and  from  the  east — 
E'en  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  new-found  shores 
Where  far  Pacific  rolls  in  storm  or  rest, 
Washing  his  sands  of  gold— the  arrowy  track 
Shall  stretch  its  iron  band  through  all  the  land. 
Then  these  interior  plains  shall  be  as  they 
Which  hear  the  ocean  roar ;  and  Northern  lakes 
Shall  bear  their  produce,  and  return  them  wealth, 
And  Mississippi,  father  of  the  floods, 
Perform  their  errands  to  Mexico  Gulf, 
And  send  them  back  the  tropic  bales  and  fruits. 
Then  shall  the  generation  musing  here 
Dream  of  the  troublous  days  before  their  time, 
And  antiquaries  point  the  very  spot 
Where  rose  the  first  rude  cabin,  and  the  space 
Where  stood  the  forest  chapel  with  its  graves, 
And  where  the  earliest  marriage  rites  were  said. 
Here,  in  the  middle  of  the  nation's  arms, 
Perchance  the  mightiest  inland  mart  shall  spring ; 
Here  the  great  statesman  from  the  ranks  of  toil 
May  rise,  with  judgment  clear,  as  strong,  as  wise, 
And,  with  a  well-directed,  patriot  blow, 
Reclinch  the  rivets  in  our  Union  bands 
Which  tinkering  knaves  have  striven  to  set  ajar  ! 
Here  shall,  perchance,  the  mighty  bard  be  born, 
With  voice  to  sweep  and  thrill  the  nation's  heart, 
Like  his  own  hand  upon  the  corded  harp. 
His  songs  shall  be  as  precious  girths  of  gold, 
Reaching  through  all  the  quarters  of  the  land, 
Inlaid  so  deep  within  the  country's  weal 
That  they  shall  hold  when  heavier  bands  shall  fail, 
Eaten  by  rust  or  broke  by  traitor  blows. 
Heaven  speed  his  coming !     He  is  needed  now  ! 
O  thou  my  country !  may  the  future  see 
Thy  shape  majestic  stand  supreme  as  now, 
And  every  stain  which  mars  thy  starry  robe 
In  the  white  sun  of  truth  be  bleach'd  away  ! 


THE   RELICS.  335 

Hold  thy  grand  posture  with  unswerving  mien, 
Firm  as  a  statue  proud  of  its  bright  form, 
Whose  purity  would  daunt  the  vandal  hand 
In  fury  raised  to  shatter  !     From  thine  eye 
Let  the  clear  light  of  freedom  still  dispread 
The  broad,  unclouded,  stationary  noon  ! 
Still  with  thy  right  hand  on  the  fasces  lean, 
And  with  the  other  point  the  living  source 
Whence  all  thy  glory  comes  ;  and  where,  unseen, 
But  still  all-seeing,  the  great  patriot  souls 
Whose  swords  and  wisdom  left  us  thus  enrich'd, 
Look  down  and  note  how  we  fulfill  our  trust ! 
Still  hold  beneath  thy  fixed  and  sandaled  foot 
The  broken  sceptre  and  the  tyrant's  gyves, 
And  let  thy  stature  shine  above  the  world, 
A  form  of  terror  and  of  loveliness  !" 

Lincoln  was  not  observed  at  first.  Gradually  his  presence 
was  felt  and  applauded,  which  quickly  became  general,  as  the 
application  to  him  of  the  poet's  language  was  made  apparent. 
This  poem,  written  eleven  years  before  the  rebellion,  was  re 
markable.  Recalling  it  as  a  portrait  of  the  coming  man,  Read 
wrote  during  the  war  the  following,  on  the  occasion  of  the  pre 
sentation  to  Mr.  Lincoln  of  three  ancient  relics,  consisting  of  a 
piece  of  Penn's  Treaty  Elm,  of  the  old  frigate  Alliance,  and 
of  the  halyards  of  the  sloop-of-war  Cumberland,  nobly  apostro 
phized  by  Boker  in  his  great  poem  : 

"THE  APOSTROPHE. 

"  Great  ruler,  these  are  simple  gifts  to  bring  thee — 

Thee,  doubly  great,  the  land's  embodied  will ; 
And  simpler  still  the  song  I  fain  would  sing  thee ;  ' 
In  higher  towers  let  greater  poets  ring  thee 
Heroic  chimes  on  Fame's  immortal  hill. 

"  A  decade  of  the  years  its  flight  has  taken, 

Since  I  beheld  and  pictured  with  my  pen 

How  yet  the  land  on  ruin's  brink  might  waken 

To  find  her  temples  rudely  seized  and  shaken 

By  traitorous  demons  in  the  forms  of  men. 


336  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

"  And  I  foresaw  thy  coming — even  pointed 

The  region  where  the  day  would  find  its  man 

To  reconstruct  what  treason  had  disjointed. 

I  saw  thy  brow  by  Honesty  anointed, 

While  Wisdom  taught  thee  all  her  noblest  plan. 

"  Thy  natal  stars,  by  angels'  hands  suspended, 

A  holy  trine,  were  Faith  and  Hope  and  Love — 
By  these  celestial  guides  art  thou  attended, 
Shedding  perpetual  lustre,  calm  and  splendid, 
Around  thy  path,  wherever  thou  dost  move. 

"  No  earthly  lore  of  any  art  or  science 

Can  fill  the  places  of  these  heavenly  three ; 
Faith  gives  thy  soul  serene  and  fixed  reliance, 
Hope  to  the  darkest  trial  bids  defiance, 

Love  tempers  all  with  her  sublime  decree. 

"  'Tis  fitting,  then,  these  relics  full  of  story, 

Telling  ancestral  tales  of  land  and  sea — 
Each  fragment  a  sublime  memento  mori 
Of  heroes  mantled  in  immortal  glory — 

Should  be  consigned,  great  patriot,  unto  thee." 

I  could  fill  a  volume  with  reminiscences  of  Thomas  Buchan 
an  Read.  One  of  the  giants  of  American  literature  said,  "His 
poetry  is  the  embodiment  of  nature's  fanciful  creation,  of  the 
exquisitely  bright  and  the  delicately  beautiful,  as  expressed  in 
the  loves  of  the  fairies  and  the  poetry  of  the  stars,  in  maiden 
purity  and  youthful  heroism.  His  pictures  are  poems,  and  his 
poems  are  pictures." 

[May  19, 1872.] 


LXXII. 

MORE  than  fifty  colored  delegates  in  the  Republican  Nation 
al  Convention  at  Philadelphia,  June  5,  1872  !  Shades  of  John 
C.  Calhoun,  Barnwell  Rhett,  Dixon  H.  Lewis,  John  Slidell,  and 


ROBERT    PURVIS.  337 

W.  L.  Yancey,  is  this  to  be  permitted  ?  Little  did  the  lords  of 
slavery  twenty  years  ago  think  that  such  an  offense  would  ever 
be  dared.  When  I  recall  Dawson,  of  Louisiana,  with  his  curls 
and  jewels  and  gold-headed  cane ;  Ashe,  of  North  Carolina, 
with  his  jolly  yet  imperious  style ;  John  S.  Barbour,  of  Virginia, 
with  his  plantation  manners  ;  Governor  Manning,  of  South  Car 
olina,  as  handsome  as  Mrs.  Stowe's  best  picture  of  the  old 
Southern  school  in  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin ;"  Pierre  Soule,  with 
his  handsome,  haughty  face,  true  types  and  apostles  of  the  pe 
culiar  institution,  I  wonder  how  they  would  feel  to  see  the  South 
represented  in  a  National  Convention  by  their  former  slaves. 
A  little  more  than  ten  years  have  sufficed  to  disprove  all  the 
predictions  against  the  colored  race,  but  in  nothing  so  much  as 
in  the  intelligence  of  their  representative  leaders,  and  in  their 
own  general  improvement.  If  you  were  to  compare  the  chiefs 
of  the  freedmen  with  the  chief  slaveholders,  knowing  them  as  I 
knew  them,  you  would  soon  realize  that  John  M.  Langston, 
professor  of  the  Law  Department  of  the  Howard  University,  is 
as  thorough  a  lawyer  as  Pierre  Soule  in  his  best  days ;  that 
Robert  Brown  Elliott  is  a  better  scholar  and  speaker  than  Lau 
rence  M.  Keitt,  who,  having  helped  to  create  the  rebellion,  died 
in  fighting  for  it ;  and  that  Benjamin  Sterling  Turner,  of  Selma, 
Alabama,  a  self-educated  slave,  and  now  a  freedman  in  Con 
gress,  is  as  practical  a  business  man  as  John  Forsyth  or  George 
S.  Houston. 

Frederick  Douglass  was  famous  as  an  orator  before  the  war. 
With  the  fall  of  slavery,  however,  he  rose  to  the  highest  position. 
His  eloquence  is  formed  on  the  best  models.  Captivating,  per 
suasive,  and  often  profound,  he  wields  an  increasing  influence 
in  both  races. 

But  among  the  colored  delegates  in  the  Republican  National 
Convention  none  will  attract  more  attention  than  Robert  Pur 
vis,  of  Philadelphia.  I  hope  some  day  to  relate  the  romance 
of  his  life.  Born  in  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  he  left  it  fifty- 

P 


338  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

three  years  ago,  when  he  was  about  seven  years  old.  A  few 
weeks  since  he  returned  to  his  native  city,  and  was  eagerly  wel 
comed  by  his  own  people,  and  by  many  of  the  old  citizens,  who 
favorably  remembered  his  father  and  mother,  and  had  watched 
his  own  career  with  friendly  eyes.  The  changes  wrought  in  this 
more  than  half  a  century  were  more  than  revolutionary.  The 
stone  rejected  by  the  builders  had  become  the  head  of  the  col 
umn.  The  magnates  had  disappeared,  and  those  who  made 
them  so  had  taken  their  places.  It  was  a  bewildering  dream ; 
yet  the  retributive  fact  stood  prominent. 

The  descendants  of  Calhoun,  Rhett,  M'Queen,  Hayne,  and 
Brooks  no  longer  ruled  like  their  fathers.  New  influences  and 
new  ideas  prevailed.  Mr.  Purvis  stood  among  his  kindred  like 
another  Rip  Van  Winkle,  with  the  difference  that  he  was  not 
forgotten ;  and  as  he  walked  the  streets  of  Columbia  and  re 
ceived  the  ovation  of  his  friends  in  Charleston,  he  saw  and  felt 
that,  although  slavery  was  dead  and  the  old  slave-lords  deposed, 
the  sun  shone,  the  grass  grew,  the  flowers  bloomed,  the  birds 
caroled,  and  the  waters  run,  as  when  the  magnates  lived  on  the 
labor  of  others  as  good  as  themselves,  and  often  died  confessing 
that  their  bad  work  must  come  to  a  bitter  end. 

Robert  Purvis  is  one  of  the  best  proofs  of  the  influence  of 
education,  travel,  good  associations,  and  natural  self-respect. 
Few  would  distinguish  him  to  be  what  he  often  proudly  calls 
himself,  "  a  negro."  His  complexion  is  not  darker  than  that  of 
Soule  or  Manning.  His  manners  are  quiet  and  courtly.  His 
general  knowledge  is  large,  and  his  conversation  easy  and  intel 
lectual.  Educated  at  some  of  the  best  of  our  Philadelphia 
schools  before  there  was  any  prejudice  against  the  reputable  man 
or  woman  of  color,  and  when  colored  votes  were  thrown  at  all  the 
elections,  he  has  reached  sixty,  universally  esteemed.  His  fam 
ily  is  among  the  most  refined  in  the  aristocratic  country  neigh 
borhood  where  he  lives,  and  he  commands  respect  of  others  by 
the  courage  with  which  he  and  his  children  respect  themselves. 


THE    COMING    CENTENNIAL.  339 

Yet  while  he  walks  erect  in  all  circles,  and  yields  to  none  in 
the  graces  of  manhood,  and  in  the  observances  of  what  we  call 
society,  he  is  the  ardent  friend  of  his  people,  determined  that 
they  shall  eventually  secure  all  their  civil,  as  they  have  now  their 
political,  rights.  No  more  useful  or  influential  man  will  sit 
among  the  delegates  to  the  Philadelphia  National  Convention, 
Wednesday,  the  5th  of  June,  1872. 

As  these  colored  colleagues  of  Robert  Purvis  from  the  South 
gather  around  their  friend  and  teacher,  how  many  a  story  they 
could  relate  of  their  individual  lives !  Each  has  had  his  ro 
mance  of  hard  reality.  Their  struggles  as  slaves — their  expe 
rience  as  freedmen — their  "hair-breadth  'scapes  by  flood  and 
field  " — their  restoration  to  family  and  friends — the  fate  of  their 
old  "  masters  " — what  material  for  the  poet,  the  novelist,  the 
historian,  and  the  philanthropist ! 

[May  26, 1872.] 


LXXIII. 

PHILADELPHIA  was  honored  by  a  national  convention  in  the 
shape  of  the  Colonial  Congress,  which,  ninety-six  years  ago, 
next  4th  of  July,  proclaimed  American  independence.  The 
body  which  is  to  assemble  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  Wednes 
day,  June  5,  will  be  one  of  the  only  three  that  gave  practical 
expression  to  the  ideas  of  the  Declaration.  While  slavery  ex 
isted,  no  national  convention  of  any  party  could  consistently 
plead  for  freedom.  And  as  the  years  rolled  on,  the  fetters  of 
the  bondmen  were  more  closely  riveted,  and  the  chains  of  the 
political  leader  made  heavier.  Now  all  is  in  harmony  with 
the  protest  and  prophecy  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  his  compa 
triots.  Thousands  will  be  present  who  never  saw  Philadelphia ; 
and  if  they  will  trace  the  growth  of  their  country  in  the  growth 


340  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

of  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love,  they  will  study  American  history 
on  the  spot  where  American  liberty  was  born.     They  will  walk 
the  streets  trod  by  Washington.     They  will  see  the  places  de 
scribed  by  Franklin  in  his  incomparable  autobiography.     They 
will  be  taken  to  the  spot  where  he  was  buried.     They  will  re 
alize  where  John  Hancock,  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams,  Roger 
Sherman,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Robert  Morris,  Andrew  Jack 
son,  Delegates  or  Senators    in    Congress,  Cabinet   Ministers, 
financiers,  etc.,  lived  in  those  trying  times ;  and  as  they  follow 
up  the  progress  of  events  from  their  source  they  will  better  un 
derstand  why  President  Grant  is  to-day  the  strongest  public 
man  in  America.     Discounted  by  the  accidents,  and,  if  you 
please,  by  the  errors  of  all  men  in  his  position,  you  find  the 
great  fact  remaining,  that  he  is  the  only  man  who  ever  had  the 
full  opportunity,  and  seized  that  opportunity  boldly,  to  prove 
his  devotion  to  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence.     Without  any  thing  like  a  party  record,  and  without  the 
slightest  pretension,  he  has  grasped  the  whole  situation,  with  all 
its  obligations,  and  has  been  as  true  to  advanced  Republican 
doctrines,  as  these  have  been  crystallized  by  experience,  as  if 
he  had  made  that  species  of  philosophy  a  study.     The  danger 
has  always  been  that  those  earliest  in  defending  great  truths 
become  hypercritical  as  they  grow  old.     Grant's  rare  merit  is 
that  he  accepts  a  fact  proved  by  trial,  and  incorporates  it  into 
his  administration.    In  this  respect  he  resembles  George  Wash 
ington.     Washington  never  was  a  political  experimenter.     He 
never  reveled  in  theories.     He  was  not  carried  away  by  vision 
ary  hopes  of  human  perfectibility.     He  wrote  little  and  spoke 
less.     And  yet,  as  President,  he  executed  the  laws,  kept  the 
peace  between  Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  bore  with  the  eccentric 
ities  of  John  Adams,  and  never  lost  his  temper  when  Thomas 
Paine  and  Philip  Francis  Freneau  hurled  their  bitterest  shafts 
against  his  private  character.     I  need  not  elaborate  the  paral 
lel.    You  have  Grant  before  you,  and  can  do  it  without  my  aid. 


SENATOR    HENRY    WILSON.  341 

Twenty-four  hundred  years  of  human  effort,  revolution,  and 
ambition  may  be  studied  in  the  remains  of  ancient  and  the  tri 
umphs  of  modern  Rome.  With  the  torch  of  our  new  intelli 
gence  we  light  up  and  restore  the  memories  of  those  almost 
forgotten  centuries.  "A  railroad  to  Pompeii !"  says  that  fasci 
nating  writer,  George  S.  Hillard,  of  Boston,  in  his  charming 
book,  "  Six  Months  in  Italy  " — "  it  seemed  appropriate  to  be 
transported  from  the  living  and  smiling  present  to  the  heart  of 
the  dead  past  by  the  swiftest  and  most  powerful  wings  that 
modern  invention  has  furnished."  Our  one  century  of  govern 
ment  discloses  wonders  and  trophies  of  another  kind.  The 
world  has  gone  forward  with  the  speed  of  magic,  and  as  we  turn 
back  for  a  moment  to  contemplate  what  has  been  done  in  that 
cycle,  what  better  aid  could  we  have  to  illuminate  our  path  than 
the  living  lessons  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  as  taught  by  the 
men  of  the  Revolution,  whose  posterity  can  even  yet  recall  their 
features,  and  rejoice  with  us  among  the  magnificent  harvest  of 
the  seed  which  they  planted  ninety-six  years  ago  ? 

[June  2, 1872.] 


LXXIV. 

HENRY  WILSON,  our  candidate  for  Vice-President,  is  a  fine 
example  of  the  effect  of  free  institutions  upon  the  struggling 
youth  of  America,  and  also  a  proof  of  the  practical  consistency 
of  the  Republican  party.  I  have  known  him  well  for  over  sev 
enteen  years.  Twelve  months  younger  than  Mr.  Sumner,  he 
has  always  been  his  friend,  even  when  compelled  to  differ  with 
him.  Wilson  is  one  of  the  men  who  wear  well.  Time  and  trial 
improve  and  ripen  them.  No  day  passes  that  they  do  not  learn 
something.  I  met  him  while  I  was  presiding  over  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  the  stormy  session  of  1855-56,  and  had 


342  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

a  chance  to  study  his  character.  He  saw  that  the  time  was 
coming  when  Democrats  like  myself  would  be  compelled  to 
choose  between  liberty  and  slavery,  and  his  anxiety  to  secure 
such  a  reinforcement  to  his  party  was  shown  in  his  kindness  to 
and  confidence  in  that  brave  and  earnest  body  of  men.  And 
when  the  storm  broke,  in  1858,  and  Buchanan  sought  to  force 
the  Lecompton  Constitution  upon  Kansas,  Henry  Wilson  threw 
himself  with  especial  fervor  among  the  revolting  Democrats. 
He  consulted  with  us  and  encouraged  us ;  he  traveled  far  and 
near  to  effect  co-operation  and  organization;  and  when  my 
name  was  presented  for  Clerk  of  the  House  in  1859,  he  insisted 
that  I  should  be  elected  without  pledges.  These  had  been  de 
manded  by  some  of  the  more  violent  Republicans,  and  sternly 
refused.  I  did  not  ask  for  the  place,  and  would  not  have 
touched  it  if  it  had  interfered  with  my  independence  as  editor 
of  The  Press.  Wilson  declared  that  I  was  right,  and  with  the 
aid  of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  John  Hickman,  John  B.  Has- 
kin,  and  John  Schwartz,  we  organized  the  House,  and  soon 
after  the  anti-Lecompton  Democrats  constituted  a  resistless 
Republican  reserve.  Henry  Wilson  is  a  superb  organizer.  His 
temperate  life  and  high  principles,  his  fine  health  and  strong 
convictions,  his  knowledge  of  the  prejudices  and  wants  of  men, 
made  him  a  great  power  against  the  rebellion,  as  well  in  the 
army  as  at  the  head  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs.  The 
amount  of  work  performed  was  prodigious.  He  was  a  real 
break-of-day  man — a  sleepless,  untiring,  and  unmurmuring  pa 
triot.  A  little  too  impulsive,  perhaps,  his  is  one  of  the  truest 
of  hearts,  warm,  generous,  and  forgiving.  His  frugal  habits  ac 
cord  with  his  strict  integrity.  He  is  inexpensive  in  his  tastes 
and  desires,  and  lives  among  his  books  and  his  friends.  He 
visits  a  great  deal,  and  reads  much.  Active  and  quick,  regular 
in  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  he  is  often  seen  on  the  Avenue  and 
in  society,  though  he  never  touches  wine  or  cigars.  He  is  a 
thorough  common-sense  man,  and  a  natural  medium  between 


DEMOCRACY    FORTY    YEARS   AGO.  343 

quarreling  friends.  His  blows  are  for  the  enemy ;  his  forgive 
ness  for  his  associates.  He  hates  corruption  as  he  hated  slav 
ery,  and  he  will  go  far  to  punish  a  faithless  trustee.  Such  is 
our  candidate  for  Vice-President.  Is  he  not  an  argument  in 
himself?  Especially  so  when  we  reflect  that  this  man  worked 
for  the  lowest  wages  as  a  boy  on  a  farm,  and  began  to  learn 
shoemaking  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  ! 

[June  9,  1872.] 


LXXV. 

I  WAS  a  boy  in  a  Lancaster  printing-office  when  the  Jackson 
party  swallowed  the  old  Federalists,  and  when  the  Democracy 
took  a  fresh  start  under  the  banner  of  Old  Hickory.  There 
had  been  no  trenchant  Democratic  organization  till  that  day, 
when  the  Iron  President  rallied  and  crystallized  it.  In  1824 
every  aspirant  for  President  was  a  Democrat — Clay,  J.  Q.  Ad 
ams,  Crawford,  Calhoun,  and,  of  course,  Jackson;  but  there 
was  no  vigorous  antagonism  till  the  Whigs  rose  out  of  Mr. 
Clay's  aspirations,  and  died  with  their  decline.  James  Buchan 
an  was  an  early  Federalist,  and  sat  in  the  Pennsylvania  Legis 
lature  from  Lancaster  as  a  Federalist,  and  afterward  in  Con 
gress  as  a  representative  of  the  same  party ;  and  when  he  join 
ed  the  Democrats,  under  the  Jackson  standard,  about  1828-30, 
he  had  to  endure  many  bitter  sneers  from  his  old  associates. 
They  charged  him  with  having  gone  over  for  a  selfish  purpose. 
They  alleged  that  he  ought  to  have  been,  in  the  logic  of  events, 
a  good  Whig  ;  but  he  pointed  to  the  fact  that  the  Jackson  party 
contained  thousands  of  Federalists  as  active  as  himself,  and 
that  many  of  the  Whig  leaders  were  once  Democrats  like  Clay. 
This  was  the  Democracy  forty  years  ago.  It  has  passed 
through  many  changes  since,  and  survived  many  storms.  It 


344  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

killed  the  Whigs  in  1844,  the  Native  Americans  in  1845,  the 
Taylorites  in  1849-50,  the  Websterites  in  1852,  and  the  Know- 
Nothings  in  1854.  At  last,  however,  it  undertook  a  job  bigger 
than  itself.  It  entered  into  partnership  with  the  rebellion,  was 
bankrupted  by  the  investment,  and  finally  died  in  the  arms  of 
its  ablest  enemy,  Horace  Greeley.  So  history  repeats  as  it 
runs  !  Old  Hickory  made  the  modern  Democracy,  and  Horace 
Greeley  unmakes  it !  The  one  presided  at  its  marriage  with 
the  Federals  in  1828-30,  the  other  follows  it  to  its  grave  in 
1872.  The  real  Democracy  of  our  times  is  the  Republican 
party,  of  which  President  Grant  is  the  leader;  but  from  this 
hour,  whatever  may  be  the  issue  of  next  November's  contest, 
there  will  be  as  earnest  a  rivalry  to  prove  which  is  the  better 
Republican  as,  forty  years  ago,  there  was  to  prove  which  was 
the  better  Democrat.  Most  of  the  politicians  in  those  early 
days  were  anxious  to  show  their  devotion  to  the  Democracy, 
and  now  John  C.  Breckinridge,  Horatio  Seymour,  W.  W.  Cor 
coran,  Charles  R.  Buckalew,  and  even  Jefferson  Davis,  are  anx 
ious  to  show  their  devotion  to  the  Republicans.  Thus  we  gath 
er  a  great  lesson  over  a  grave.  Under  Jackson  the  old  Feder 
alists  were  buried  in  a  Democratic  sepulchre.  Under  Greeley 
the  Democrats  are  buried  in  a  Republican  one.  And  now  that 
the  Republicans  have  fairly  absorbed  the  Democrats,  how  long 
will  the  new  departure  last  ? 

[July  21, 1872.] 


LXXVI. 

MASSACHUSETTS,  and,  indeed,  most  of  the  New  England  States 
— but  Massachusetts  above  all — presents  the  very  best  modern 
ideal  of  a  thorough  Republic,  not  alone  in  her  productive  ca 
pacities,  nor  yet  in  her  scientific  excellences,  nor  even  in  her 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    STATES.  345 

high  collegiate  establishments,  but  in  the  primary  elements  of 
general  education,  public  lectures,  town  halls,  large  libraries, 
and  local  historians.  The  opportunities  for  universal  informa 
tion  are  most  general,  and  almost  perfect.  The  fundamental 
principle  of  republican  government  is  typified  in  the  frequent 
popular  meetings,  wherein  are  discussed  all  municipal  necessi 
ties,  in  spacious  buildings,  which  can  also  be  utilized  for  other 
purposes,  and  which  are,  in  every  case,  I  think,  connected  with 
libraries  open  to  every  class  and  condition.  The  result  is  an 
insatiate  appetite  for  learning.  The  whole  social  frame-work 
is  permeated  by  healthy  competition.  No  ordinary  or  superfi 
cial  lecturer  or  book  satisfies  the  public.  Accustomed  to  read 
the  best  authors,  they  will  tolerate  none  but  the  best  of  speak 
ers.  Agassiz,  Emerson,  and  Dr.  Holmes  are  preferred  to  fee 
bly  forcible  wits  and  glittering  declaimers.  These  are  the  in 
fluences  which  produce  so  fine  and  wholesome  a  literature  in 
New  England — which  open  so  many  doors  to  Massachusetts 
scholars — which  place  Longfellow,  Whittier,  Bancroft,  Motley, 
Hillard,  Prescott,  Dana,  Lowell,  Ticknor,  and  Sprague  at  the 
head  of  the  American  schools  of  learning — which  send  forth  to 
States  and  Territories  intelligent  young  men  and  women  quali 
fied  to  lead  in  art  and  in  industry — whether  these  relate  to  the 
labor  of  the  hands  or  to  the  labor  of  the  brain.  When  Mr. 
Sumner  returned  from  his  last  tour  through  Pennsylvania,  after 
having  repeated  in  many  of  our  prominent  places  his  great  lect 
ures  on  "Caste,"  "Lafayette,"  and  "The  Franco-Prussian  War," 
he  spoke  in  raptures  of  the  extraordinary  variety  and  fertility 
of  our  soil  and  our  productions,  especially  of  the  wonderful  min 
eral  and  agricultural  developments  in  such  counties  as  Leba 
non,  Schuylkill,  and  Wyoming,  and  along  the  region  of  the  Al- 
leghany  Valley.  "  But,"  he  remarked,  "  that  which  pained  me, 
in  the  midst  of  all  this  affluence,  was  the  absence  in  your  most 
populous  interior  cities  of  libraries  and  town  halls,  such  as  we 
have  in  New  England ;  and  I  beg  of  you,"  he  said  to  me,  "to 

Pa 


346  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

employ  your  pen  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  people  of  the 
Middle  States  to  the  vital  importance  of  securing  such  insti 
tutions  wherever  the  population  warrants  them."  As  these 
thoughts  occurred  to  me,  I  recalled  an  unpretending  and  hum 
ble  scholar — the  most  active  and  accurate,  if  not  the  most  ele 
gant  and  polished  of  our  local  historians — whose  life  in  itself  is 
an  example  to  our  youth,  and  whose  efforts,  extending  through 
now  nearly  half  a  century,  might  have  been  fittingly  imitated 
by  men  of  loftier  pretensions  and  more  numerous  acquirements. 
I  deplore  the  fact  that,  whereas  Massachusetts  has  at  least  one 
or  two  first-class  historians  and  biographers  in  every  county, 
Pennsylvania  has  yet  to  find  a  perfectly  qualified  mind  to  pre 
pare  or  to  compile  such  a  book  for  the  State  itself  as  would  do 
justice  to  our  past  and  our  present,  and  fit  us  for  the  future, 
and  at  the  same  time  stimulate  others  to  follow  in  the  lead  of 
the  subject  of  this  notice — I.  Daniel  Rupp,  Esq.  He  was  born 
near  Harrisburg  in  1803,  and  is  now  living,  in  his  seventieth 
year,  at  West  Philadelphia.  This  quiet  yet  laborious  man  has 
produced  a  variety  of  works  of  all  kinds — most  of  them  de 
voted  to  the  early  records  of  Pennsylvania.  Allibone's  "  Dic 
tionary  of  Authors"  speaks  of  him  as  an  industrious  historian, 
translator,  and  agricultural  writer.  Without  enumerating  his 
productions  on  other  subjects,  the  Pennsylvania  reader  will  be 
surprised  to  see  how  much  of  his  time  has  been  given  to  that 
State,  as  proved  by  the  following  list :  History  of  Lancaster 
County ;  History  of  the  Counties  of  Berks,  Lebanon,  York, 
Northampton,  Lehigh,  Monroe,  Carbon,  Schuylkill,  Dauphin, 
Cumberland,  Franklin,  Bedford,  Adams,  and  Perry  ;  History  of 
Western  Pennsylvania  and  the  West,  from  1754  to  1833  ;  His 
tory  and  Biography  of  Northumberland,  Huntingdon,  Mifflin, 
Centre,  Union,  Cambria,  Juniata,  and  Clinton  Counties,  and  a 
Collection  of  Thirty  Thousand  Names  of  German,  Swiss,  Dutch, 
French,  Portuguese,  and  other  Immigrants  to  Pennsylvania, 
originally  covering  a  period  from  1727  to  1776 — an  invaluable 


A    LOCAL    HISTORIAN.  347 

book  to  all  persons  anxious  to  ascertain  the  names  of  their  an 
cestors — now,  I  fear,  almost  out  of  print — published  at  Harris- 
burg  on  the  25th  of  January,  1856.  He  has  also  ready  for  the 
press  a  monograph  of  the  Hessian  mercenaries  in  the  British 
service  during  the  Revolution,  from  1775  to  1783,  and  has  been 
engaged  since  1827  in  collecting  materials  for  an  original  his 
tory  of  the  German,  Swiss,  and  Huguenot  emigrants  to  Penn 
sylvania. 

Owing  to  lack  of  means,  this  really  useful  work  has  not  yet 
been  published.  Under  New  England  influences  it  would  long 
since  have  been  given  to  the  world.  It  must  not  be  understood 
as  depreciating  my  native  State ;  but  is  it  not  true  that,  with 
the  exception  of  Breckinridge's  Western  Pennsylvania ;  Wat 
son's  Annals;  the  works  of  Chas.  Minor;  Rupp's  contributions 
above  named,  and  a  few  excellent  but  incomplete  memoirs,  we 
are  sadly  deficient  in  literature  inspired  by  our  early  struggles 
and  present  pre-eminence  ?  A  history  of  Pennsylvania  adapt 
ed  to  the  times  has  yet  to  be  written.  Mr.  Sypher's  book  for 
schools  has  decided  merits ;  but  we  wait  for  a  work  equal  to 
the  traditions,  the  facts,  the  men,  and  the  manners  of  past  days 
brought  down  to  the  present  time.  When  will  that  historian 
appear  ? 

[July  28,  1872.] 


LXXVII. 

No  problem  of  modern  civilization  is  so  vexed  as  that  of 
municipal  government,  or  the  difficulty  of  securing  good  rulers 
for  great  cities,  of  regulating  taxation,  and  preserving  the  pub 
lic  credit.  Paris  became  the  dazzling  metropolis  of  the  Con 
tinent  under  the  irresponsible  rule  of  Louis  Napoleon,  whose 
chief  agent,  Baron  Haussman,  executed  his  master's  commands 


348  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

without  much  regard  for  private  rights,  but  certainly  produced 
matchless  results.  The  money  spent  and  squandered  upon  the 
French  capital  under  Haussman  reached  a  fabulous  sum,  but 
the  comforts  and  luxuries  secured  to  strangers  were  equally  un 
usual.  London  is  controlled  by  a  number  of  corporate  bodies, 
and  many  complaints  are  heard  against  their  profligacy.  Berlin 
and  Vienna  are  magically  improved  in  every  direction.  Brus 
sels  is  a  miniature  Paris,  and  the  Dutch  cities,  The  Hague, 
Amsterdam,  and  Rotterdam,  are  famous  for  their  institutions 
of  art  and  learning,  and  the  comparative  comfort  of  their  over 
taxed  population.  But  these,  like  Edinburgh  and  Dublin,  are 
governed  rather  by  the  monarch  than  by  the  people.  It  is 
when  we  come  to  apply  popular  rule  to  municipalities  that  the 
worst  difficulties  are  encountered.  The  rapid  growth  of  our 
American  cities,  the  necessity  for  heavy  expenditures  in  paved 
streets,  public  buildings,  water,  light,  and  the  preservation  of 
property,  open  the  door  to  endless  speculation.  Boston  is  un 
questionably  the  best-managed  city  in  America,  mainly  because 
there  is  very  little  politics  in  its  administration,  a  severe  system 
of  .finance,  a  police  extending  over  the  State,  and  a  rigid  at 
tendance  at  the  primary  elections  by  prominent  "men.  He  who 
visits  Washington  to-day,  after  an  absence  of  twenty  years,  will 
be  amazed  at  its  progress  and  its  promises.  We  may  prefigure 
its  future  by  its  contrast  with  the  past.  As  we  remember  its 
dusty  streets  in  summer  and  its  muddy  streets  in  winter,  its 
poor  hotels  and  boarding-houses,  its  miserable  police,  its  disor 
ganized  finances,  in  the  light  of  its  increasing  miles  of  broad 
and  beautiful  drives,  its  new  temples  of  education  and  learning, 
its  gallery  of  art,  its  splendid  public  edifices,  with  the  superb 
Capitol  crowning  the  whole,  unsurpassed  in  the  world,  we  may 
easily  anticipate  the  day  when  Washington  will  be  the  favorite 
and  the  loveliest  city  on  our  side  of  the  sea.  President  Grant 
struck  the  key-note  when  he  appointed  Henry  D.  Cooke  Gov 
ernor  of  the  District  of  Columbia  under  the  Congressional  act 


GOVERNOR  HENRY  D.  COOKE.  349 

of  reorganization,  which  made  the  popular  branch  of  the  local 
Legislature  elective,  and  gave  the  people  a  Delegate  in  Con 
gress.  Mr.  Cooke  is  one  of  the  many  proofs  of  the  wisdom  of 
our  Chief  Magistrate.  He  is  just  forty-seven,  and  when  he  ac 
cepted  the  post  had  accumulated  a  handsome  fortune,  which 
placed  him  beyond  temptation.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the 
propriety  of  opening  public  positions  to  every  condition,  expe 
rience  has  proved  that  the  mayor  of  a  great  city  should  be  be 
yond  pecuniary  want.  Undoubtedly  the  choice  of  such  a  man 
as  William  M.  Tweed  at  the  head  of  perhaps  the  most  impor 
tant  department  in  the  city  of  New  York  opened  the  way  to 
that  series  of  speculations  and  corruptions  which  tottered  to  its 
fall,  amid  the  congratulations  of  the  people,  in  the  autumn  of 
1871.  In  olden  times,  the  mayors  (for  instance)  of  Philadelphia 
were  men  who  had  acquired  independence  by  long  years  of  in 
dustry  and  frugality,  and  our  people  proudly  recall  the  days 
when  worthy  citizens  like  Wharton,  Scott,  and  Page  acted  in 
that  capacity.  It  is  true,  Philadelphia  during  that  time  was  not 
what  it  is  to-day,  with  its  increasing  population  and  necessities. 
Perhaps,  if  they  were  now  in  command,  they  would  not  escape 
the  censure  so  fiercely  passed  upon  their  successors.  Governor 
Cooke,  at  the  head  of  the  government  of  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  has  come  in  for  his  full  share  of  criticism,  but  his  vindica 
tion  closely  follows  the  proofs  of  the  justice  and  the  sagacity 
of  his  administration.  His  career  is  an  example  of  his  fitness 
to  preside  over  the  destinies  of  a  great  cosmopolitan  centre. 
Born  in  Ohio,  educated  at  Meadville,  Pennsylvania,  bred  to  the 
law,  then  a  school-teacher  and  a  newspaper  editor  in  Philadel 
phia,  where  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  literary  lights  like 
Joseph  R.  Chandler,  Joseph  C.  Neal,  and  Robert  T.  Conrad, 
then  Vice-Consul  at  one  of  the  South  American  ports  under  his 
connection,  Consul-General  William  G.  Moorhead,  more  than 
twenty-five  years  ago,  and  finally  finding  fortune  in  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  banking  under  Jay  Cooke,  in  Philadelphia,  his 


35°  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

removal  to  Washington,  at  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
administration,  and  his  connection  afterward  with  the  great 
banking-house  with  which  he  is  still  identified,  he  has  gather 
ed  enough  knowledge  of  men  to  qualify  him  for  the  arduous 
services  which  have  made  Washington  City  what  it  is.  Fine 
manners,  princely  hospitality,  warm  and  ardent  sympathies  with 
the  new  citizens  and  the  cause  of  universal  education,  make 
him  acceptable  to  every  class.  Never  a  politician  in  the  vulgar 
interpretation  of  that  word,  although  a  sincere  and  consist 
ent  Republican,  and  rich  enough,  as  I  have  said,  to  escape 
suspicion,  his  intercourse  with  the  Representatives  and  Sena 
tors  in  Congress  of  every  shade  is  agreeable  to  himself  and 
profitable  to  his  constituents.  The  generous  bounty  of  Con 
gress  to  the  District  at  the  last  session,  inspired  by  the  explicit 
recommendations  of  General  Grant  in  his  annual  message,  is 
to  be  attributed  to  the  confidence  reposed  in  Governor  Cooke; 
and  when  our  law-makers  meet  in  December  they  will  be  sur 
prised  at  the  enormous  amount  of  work  done  under  the  au 
spices  of  Governor  Cooke  and  the  energetic  Board  of  Public 
Works  appointed  by  the  President,  with  Alexander  R.  Shep 
herd  at  their  head. 

In  five  years  from  to-day  the  District  of  Columbia  will  be  the 
choice  winter  resort  of  the  country,  and  will  be  to  the  people 
of  wealth  and  intelligence — to  inventors,  our  men  of  science, 
and  to  foreigners,  an  irresistible  attraction.  Directly  connect 
ed,  North  and  South,  by  new  railroads,  and  offering  extraor 
dinary  inducements  to  persons  of  moderate  means  who  desire 
to  live  in  a  healthy  climate  and  to  enjoy  the  best  society,  it  will 
be  sought  by  men  from  every  State,  whether  as  visitors  or  resi 
dents.  And  when  that  day  comes,  no  name  will  be  more  af 
fectionately  remembered  and  honored  than  that  of  Governor 
Henry  D.  Cooke. 

[August  4, 1872.] 


OUR    FUTURE    LEADERS.  351 


LXXVIII. 

"  OUR  future  leaders — where  are  they  to  come  from  ?"  was 
the  question  of  a  friend,  a  short  time  ago,  after  an  interesting 
discussion  on  the  necessity  of  securing  the  best  material  in  the 
management  of  government,  society,  and  business.  We  were 
looking  out  of  the  window  of  my  editorial  room  in  Philadelphia. 
I  answered,  pointing  to  the  newsboys  and  bootblacks  congre 
gated  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Chestnut  Streets, "  There 
are  your  future  leaders.  That  little  fellow  with  the  curly  hair 
is  an  embryo  merchant ;  that  one  with  torn  trowsers  is  the  sap 
ling  of  a  sturdy  politician;  that  black-eyed  lad  is  saving  his 
money  to  pay  for  a  collegiate  education."  And  has  it  not  been 
so  of  most  of  the  strong  men  of  our  times?  On  the  Pacific 
coast  many  of  the  great  houses  grew  from  just  such  seeds. 
Sargent,  the  United  States  Senator  elect,  visited  Philadelphia 
twenty-five  years  ago  to  get  work  as  a  journeyman  printer,  and 
failed ;  Latham,  the  millionaire,  who  has  been  in  both  houses 
of  Congress  and  Governor  of  the  State,  began  life  very  poor; 
Broderick  was  in  New  York  a  Bowery  boy  in  1847;  and  the 
railroad  kings,  most  of  them,  began  life  as  low  down  as  the  lit 
tle  Bohemians  at  our  corner.  The  sons  of  the  rich,  the  edu 
cated  darlings  of  the  great  families,  are  nowhere.  All  their 
gifts  were  so  many  fatal  temptations,  and  they  themselves  are 
forgotten,  like  bad  copies  of  good  pictures.  "  It  is  the  rough 
brake  that  virtue  must  go  through." 

A  recent  writer  insists  that  a  grandfather  is  no  longer  a  so 
cial  institution.  Men  do  not  live  in  the  past.  They  rarely 
look  back.  "  Forward !"  is  the  universal  cry.  Perhaps  our 
reverence  for  our  ancestors  suffers,  but  such  a  thing  as  a  great 
family  in  this  country  helps  nobody.  Even  the  Adamses  of  the 
present  day  make  little  out  of  their  former  generations  of  great 
ness.  Thomas  Hughes  struck  the  key-note  when  he  said  that 


352  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

the  absence  of  the  laws  of  primogeniture  and  entail  in  this 
country  opened  a  wide  door  to  poor  young  men,  and  compelled 
the  very  rich  to  spend  their  money  in  good  deeds  to  save  it 
from  being  wasted  by  their  posterity,  and  thus  great  fortunes 
change  hands  almost  as  rapidly  as  the  changes  of  life.  But  we 
must  not  forget  that  many  of  the  most  useful  and  illustrious  of 
the  English  leaders  are  the  growth  of  the  long  years  of  patient 
study  and  careful  rearing  of  their  fathers.  One  fault  of  our 
system  is  the  absence  of  this  very  experience,  and  the  presence 
of  so  much  undisciplined  intellect  in  our  public  places.  Yet, 
with  all  these  drawbacks,  how  easily  the  machinery  of  American 
government  moves  on;  how  successfully  it  survives  accident; 
how  providentially  it  seems  to  order  and  control  itself!  And, 
though  we  sometimes  mourn  for  our  great  ones  gone,  there  is 
not  a  day  that  does  not  teach  the  wholesome  lesson  that  nobody 
is  necessary  or  indispensable.  Every  hour  some  new  man 
starts  up  to  fill  the  vacancy  made  by  the  death  of  an  old  leader, 
and  in  nearly  every  instance  the  new  man  is  found  equal  to  the 
emergency.  Ours  may  be  called  the  Age  of  Utility.  We  are 
not  prolific  of  statesmen  or  orators,  and  politics  has  degenerated 
into  a  poor  strife  between  speculators  and  mediocrities.  But 
for  all  this  the  country  is  safe.  One  such  man  as  Leland  Stan 
ford,  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  or  Dean  Richmond,  of  the 
New  York  Central,  or  Ben  Holliday,  Jr.,  of  Oregon,  or  John  Ed 
gar  Thomson,  or  his  vigorous  vice-president,  Thomas  A.  Scott, 
may  do  more  practical  good,  and  has  more  real  power,  than  a 
Webster  or  Clay.  And  when  we  consider  that,  like  Webster 
and  Clay,  they  have  all  risen  from  small  beginnings,  is  it  going 
too  far  to  say  that  they  may  purify  and  elevate  our  politics  even 
as  they  extend  their  great  enterprises  and  enrich  themselves? 
He  who  inherits  wealth  without  mind  is  always  sure  to  under 
rate  mind,  but  he  who  by  sheer  hard  knocks  works  his  own  way 
through  the  rock  of  adversity  into  affluence,  is  sure  to  set  a 
high  price  upon  intellect.  And  thus  it  stands  that  many  of 


WILLIAM    H.  SEWARD.  353 

those  who  have  grown  to  great  riches  by  their  own  exertions 
have  taken  every  opportunity,  like  Asa  Packer,  Pardee,  Cornell, 
A.  T.  Stewart,  George  Peabody,  and  George  W.  Childs,  to  give 
liberally  to  the  education  of  the  masses  from  whom  they  sprang. 

[September  15,  1872.] 


LXXIX. 

I  HAVE  been  enjoying,  for  the  first  time,  William  H.  Seward's 
"Life  of  John  Quincy  Adams,"  published  in  1849,  and  I  pro 
nounce  it  among  the  best  biographies  I  ever  read.  It  is  the 
tribute  of  one  great  man  to  another.  I  do  not  compare  Mr. 
Seward  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  but  if  any  writer  in  his  forty- 
ninth  year— the  age  when  Seward  wrote  his  life  of  Adams- 
would  now  undertake  the  same  work  for  Seward,  he  would  pro 
duce  a  book  of  uncommon  interest.  Mr.  Adams  was  over  eighty 
when  he  died  in  the  Capitol  of  the  country  he  had  served  so 
well.  Mr.  Seward  is  now  in  his  seventy-second  year,  and  his 
experience,  though  not  marked  by  the  austere  lines  of  that  of 
Adams,  is  one  of  the  eventful  examples  of  our  day.  He  "  still 
lives"  at  Auburn,  New  York,  in  a  body  wrecked  by  accident 
and  the  assassin's  dagger ;  but  his  intellect  shines  through  the 
shattered  cask'et  like  light  through  a  ruined  castle.  He  will  be 
fortunate  if  the  historian  of  his  varied  and  somewhat  grotesque 
career — a  combination  as  it  was  of  curious  evolutions,  daring 
experiments,  and  very  great  abilities — is  as  careful  and  thought 
ful  a  delineator  of  human  nature  as  the  biographer  of  John 
Quincy  Adams. 

But  I  did  not  intend  to  compliment  Mr.  Seward,  nor  to  draw 
a  parallel  between  him  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  nothing 
more  striking  than  the  fact  that  both  are  supposed  to  have  kept 
a  close  and  graphic  detail  or  diary  of  their  political  and  official 


354  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

relations.  The  volume  before  me,  chiefly  the  product  of  his 
brain,  has  been  so  long  forgotten,  and  contains  so  many  new 
suggestions,  at  least  to  the  present  generation,  that  a  glance 
through  its  pages  may  be  pleasant  and  profitable  to  the  reader 
of  these  Anecdotes. 

The  American  progenitor  of  the  Adams  family  was  Henry 
Adams,  who  fled  in  1639  from  ecclesiastical  oppression  in  En 
gland,  and  was  a  member  of  the  first  Christian  Church  at  Mount 
Wollaston,  the  present  town  of  Quincy,  Massachusetts,  and  died 
on  the  8th  of  October,  1646.  His  memory  is  preserved  by  a 
plain  granite  monument  in  the  burial-ground  of  Quincy,  upon 
which  John  Adams,  second  President  of  the  United  States, 
caused  the  following  inscription  to  be  carved : 

"In  Memory  of 

$  e  n  r  g   &  5  a  m  0, 

"  Who  took  his  flight  from  the  dragon  Persecution  in  Devonshire,  in  En 
gland,  and  alighted,  with  eight  sons,  near  Mount  Wollaston.     One 
of  the  sons  returned  to  England,  and,  after  taking  time  to  ex 
plore  the  country,  four  removed  to  Medfield  and  the 

neighboring  towns,  two  to  Chelmsford. 

"  One  only,  Joseph,  who  lies  here  at  his  left  hand,  remained  here,  who  was 
an  original  proprietor  in  the  Township  of  Braintree,  incorporated 

in  the  year  1639. 

"  This  stone  and  several  others  have  been  placed  in  this  yard,  by  a  great- 
great-grandson,  from  a  veneration  of  the  piety,  humility,  simplicity,  prudence, 
patience,  temperance,  frugality,  industry,  and  perseverance  of  his  ancestors, 
in  hope  of  recommending  an  imitation  of  their  virtues  to  their  posterity." 

If  we  trace  the  descendants  of  Henry  Adams  we  shall  realize 
how  faithfully  the  ideas  carved  on  the  stony  monument  of  their 
great  ancestor  have  been  cherished.  Three  generations  have 
attested  their  devotion  to  these  valuable  precepts.  I  recollect 
no  American  family  that  can  point  to  so  many  great  minds,  all 
formed,  as  it  were,  upon  one  model.  The  sons  of  the  living 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  himself  the  son  of  John  Quincy,  are  far 
above  the  common  standard,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Jr.,  being  a 


JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS.  355 

political  leader  of  acknowledged  power,  and  a  writer  of  uncom 
mon  gifts.  But  none  of  the  name,  not  even  the  second  Presi 
dent,  have  made  such  a  mark  upon  his  age  as  the  successor  of 
James  Monroe. 

Mr.  Seward  shows  how  carefully  John  Quincy  Adams  was 
trained  for  the  battle  of  life.  At  a  period  when  our  American 
youth  are  too  apt  to  neglect  their  precious  and  surpassing  op 
portunities,  it  may  be  useful  to  recall  the  boyhood  of  that  re 
markable  man.  Born  at  Quincy,  May  n,  1767,  he  was  literally 
cradled  in  the  Revolution,  and  almost  baptized  in  its  blood. 
His  great  grandfather,  Quincy,  on  his  mother's  side,  was  dying, 
and  his  daughter,  grandmother  of  young  John  Quincy.  was  pres 
ent  at  the  birth  of  the  latter,  and  insisted  that  he  might  receive 
the  name  of  Quincy ;  and  in  one  of  his  letters  the  incident  is 
thus  referred  to  :  "  The  fact,  recorded  by  my  father  at  the  time, 
has  connected  with  portions  of  my  name  a  charm  of  mingled 
sensibility  and  devotion.  It  was  filial  tenderness  that  gave  the 
name.  It  was  the  name  of  one  passing  from  earth  to  immortal 
ity.  These  have  been  among  the  strongest  links  of  my  attach 
ment  to  the  name  of  Quincy,  and  have  been,  through  life,  a  per 
petual  admonition  to  do  nothing  unworthy  of  //."  Fortified  by 
the  example  of  his  ancestors  on  both  sides,  and  by  the  care  of 
a  cultivated  father  and  a  careful  mother,  he  was  so  studious 
and  manly  that  Edward  Everett,  in  his  eulogy,  said:  "There 
seemed  to  be  in  his  life  no  such  stage  as  that  of  boyhood." 
When  only  nine  years  old  he  wrote  as  follows  to  his  father : 

"  BRAINTREE,  June  2,  1777. 

"  DEAR  SIR, — I  love  to  receive  letters  very  well,  much  better  than  I  love 
to  write  them.  My  head  is  much  too  fickle.  My  thoughts  are  running  after 
birds'  eggs,  play,  and  trifles,  till  I  am  vexed  with  myself.  Mamma  has  a 
troublesome  task  to  keep  me  studying.  I  own  I  am  ashamed  of  myself.  I 
have  but  just  entered  the  third  volume  of  Rollin's  History,  but  designed 
to  have  got  half  through  it  by  this  time.  I  am  determined  this  week  to  be 
more  diligent.  Mr.  Thaxter  [his  teacher]  is  absent  at  court.  I  have  set  my 
self  a  task  this  week — to  read  the  third  volume  half  out.  If  I  can  keep  my 


35  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

resolution,  I  may  again  at  the  end  of  the  week  give  a  better  account  of  my 
self.  I  wish,  sir,  you  would  give  me  in  writing  some  instructions  with  re 
gard  to  the  use  of  my  time,  and  advise  me  how  to  proportion  my  reading  and 
play,  and  I  will  keep  them  by  me  and  endeavor  to  follow  them.  With  the 
present  determination  of  growing  better,  I  am,  dear  sir,  your  son, 

"JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

"  P>  S- — SlR' — !f  vou  wil1  be  so  good  as  to  favor  me  with  a  blank  book,  I 
will  transcribe  the  most  remarkable  passages  I  meet  with  in  my  reading, 
which  will  serve  to  fix  them  upon  my  mind." 

Here  we  see  the  beginning  of  that  extraordinary  diary  which 
was  continued  down  to  the  period  of  his  death  in  the  Speaker's 
room  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the  230!  of  February, 
1848.  That  great  work  has  not  yet  seen  the  light,  but  is  in 
process  of  preparation  for  publication  by  his  son,  Charles  Fran 
cis  Adams,  and  will  be  issued  at  an  early  day  by  the  great  house 
of  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  Philadelphia.  The  value  of  such  a 
diary  is  proved  by  Mr.  Seward's  biography.  It  is  in  most  cases 
infallible,  and  whenever  Mr.  Adams  allowed  a  reference  to  be 
made  to  its  pages,  the  evidence  was  decisive.  Accurate  and 
painstaking  in  every  thing,  living  by  rule,  he  stated  a  fact  ex 
actly  as  it  occurred,  and  at  the  exact  time,  and  from  his  author 
ity  there  could  be  no  appeal.  Mr.  Seward  himself  seems  to 
have  adopted  John  Quincy  Adams  as  his  model,  at  least  in  his 
later  years.  His  late  travels  round  the  world,  his  steady  refusal 
to  intermix  with  passing  politics,  and  his  entire  independence  in 
the  expression  of  his  opinions,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
general  belief  that  he  is  busy  preparing  his  own  memoirs,  show 
that,  unlike  most  retired  statesmen,  he  is  not  insensible  of  the 
world's  judgment,  and  that  in  his  old  age  he  is  still  keenly  alive 
to  the  progress  of  his  country.  But  he  can  leave  no  memento 
that  will  do  him  more  credit  than  his  "  Life  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,"  published  in  1849. 

[September  22,  1872.] 


WESTWARD    HO 


LXXX. 

Now  that  the  Territories  have  assumed  a  significance,  not  to 
say  grandeur,  unknown  in  the  days  of  Jackson  and  Polk,  we 
may  better  appreciate  Thomas  H.  Benton's  stereotyped  advice 
whenever  a  young  man  called  on  him  in  Washington  to  ask  his 
influence  for  a  clerkship  in  one  of  the  Departments :  "  Go  to 
the  Territories,  sir;  or  to  one  of  the  new  States.  Go  to  Iowa 
or  Missouri ;  go  to  Wisconsin  or  Illinois.  If  you  are  a  lawyer, 
hang  out  your  shingle  and  show  that  you  are  deserving ;  if  a 
farmer,  buy  a  quarter-section  of  land  and  cultivate  it ;  if  a  me 
chanic,  open  your  shop  and  work ;  but  don't  stay  here  to  burn 
yourself  out  with  rum,  or  to  rust  with  idleness.  Do  any  thing 
but  serve  as  a  slave  in  one  of  these  wretched  bureaus."  Good 
advice  thirty,  forty,  even  fifty  years  ago,  and  better  to-day.  The 
men  who  went  forth  into  the  Territories  in  Benton's  time,  when 
he  left  Tennessee  for  Missouri,  or  when  Sam  Houston  left  Ten 
nessee  for  Texas,  or  when  John  C.  Breckinridge  tried  his  young 
fortunes  by  removing  from  Kentucky  to  Iowa,  after  the  Mexican 
war ;  like  the  early  pioneers  to  other  regions,  when  the  West 
was  bounded  by  the  Missouri  River — these  men  had  a  hard 
time  of  it.  They  had  to  meet  not  only  a  primitive  people,  but 
to  traverse  a  primitive  country,  with  few  or  no  conveniences, 
either  of  food  or  of  shelter,  and  to  give  weeks  and  months  of 
valuable  time  before  they  reached  their  destination.  How  dif 
ferent  to-day !  We  go  West  in  palace  cars,  swift  "  as  the  sight 
less  couriers  of  the  air,"  to  find  even  in  the  heart  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  in  the  defiles  of  the  Sierras,  the  best  luxuries 
of  life,  and  the  choicest  temptations  to  business  enterprise  or 
professional  ambition.  These  modern  inducements  take  off 
much  of  the  superior  material  of  the  older  States,  and  we  need 
not  be  surprised  if  the  West  and  the  Pacific  slope  furnish,  here 
after,  the  strongest  minds  in  public  affairs.  Perhaps  the  mani- 


ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

fest  depreciation  of  the  lawyers  of  the  old  States  is  to  be  attrib 
uted  to  the  exodus  to  the  more  attractive  fields  of  our  young 
men.  Brains  have  not  long  to  wait  for  employment  in  the  Ter 
ritories;  they  are  in  constant  demand,  and  always  at  a  premi 
um.  Money  goes  a  great  way,  but  it  can  not  forever  buy  me 
diocrity  into  office.  There  are  too  many  competitors  for  the 
prizes,  and  in  fact  too  much  capital  in  the  hands  of  able  men 
to  give  an  inferior  man  a  superior  chance.  No  doubt  money 
decides  many  a  contest,  but  the  winner  is  nearly  always  fit  to 
fill  the  place  he  secures.  As  the  opportunities  for  wealth  in 
crease  with  the  chances  for  preferment,  you  may  prepare  for  a 
new  rush  to  the  Territories  without  parallel.  We  are,  in  fact, 
in  the  mere  infancy  of  development.  Marvelous  as  the  con 
trast  is  between  the  present  and  the  past,  it  is  as  nothing  to  the 
contrast  between  the  present  and  the  near  future.  Our  prog 
ress  has  many  opulent  worlds  to  redeem  and  some  to  conquer 
from  our  neighbors.  Men  like  Senators  Nye  and  Stewart,  of 
Nevada,  Governor  Evans,  of  Colorado,  Governor  McCormick, 
of  Arizona,  Ben  Holliday,  of  Oregon,  and  W.  C.  Rallston,  of 
California,  fortunate  and  honored  as  they  are,  will  be  succeed 
ed  by  intellects  as  marked,  and  by  success  as  brilliant ;  and 
most  of  us  will  live  to  see  it  for  ourselves,  and  to  realize  that, 
however  heavy  the  reinforcements,  there  is  room  enough  and 
reward  enough  for  all. 

[October  6,  1872.] 


LXXXI. 

Now  we  add  to  the  catalogue  of  the  suddenly  called  the 
name  of  the  beloved  William  Prescott  Smith,  of  Baltimore,  who 
died  last  Tuesday  evening,  October  i,  in  his  forty-eighth  year. 
It  seems  only  yesterday  that  I  rode  with  him  to  Philadelphia, 


WILLIAM    PRESCOTT   SMITH.  359 

the  time  passing  swiftly  under  the  influence  of  his  pathos  and 
humor.  I  can  recall  no  character  that  filled  a  larger  space  with 
brighter  gifts.  He  was  in  every  respect  an  original  man,  a 
combination  and  a  form  indeed  of  most  diversified  qualities. 
For  many  years  identified  with  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
and  lately  recalled  to  an  important  position  in  its  management, 
he  was  as  accurate  in  his  business  aptitudes  as  he  was  genial 
in  social  and  literary  circles.  Successful  alike  in  his  dealings 
with  the  stern  chiefs  of  great  enterprises,  he  was  beloved  by  all 
his  associates  and  subordinates,  and  when  he  turned  from  work, 
to  rest  from  his  official  duties,  to  books  and  the  fine  arts,  he  was 
a  companion  for  scholars  and  statesmen.  Nature  had  endowed 
him  with  a  rarely  handsome  form  and  features.  His  manners 
were  unusually  fascinating ;  his  tastes  were  cultivated  and  re 
fined  ;  his  memory  acute  and  tenacious  ;  his  knowledge  of  men 
most  thorough.  Modest  and  retiring,  he  bore  himself  like  a 
prince  in  every  presence.  His  ambition  seemed  to  be  to  make 
others  happy.  In  society  always  a  universal  favorite,  and  in 
vited  every  where,  his  wit  shone  and  sparkled,  but  never  stung. 
He  had  no  enmities  and  few  enemies,  never  mixed  in  politics, 
and  conciliated  the  affection  and  confidence  of  most  antagonist 
ic  elements.  His  genius  was  as  marked  in  the  hard  attritions 
of  railroad  competition  as  in  the  skill  with  which  he  invented 
the  means  of  intellectual  enjoyment.  To  soften  asperities,  to 
smooth  the  pathway  of  life,  to  befriend  the  distressed,  and  to 
help  forward  poor  young  men,  these  were  his  chosen  ambitions. 
His  mind  was  instinctively  elevated,  and  when  he  threw  off  his 
daily  cares  it  was  surprising  to  note  the  variety  and  purity  of 
his  comic  talent.  Who  that  ever  witnessed  his  imitations  and 
his  burlesques  can  recall  one  that  approached  vulgarity  ?  I  re 
member  our  voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  our  rambles  through 
England,  and  our  experiences  in  France ;  how  fresh  and  ever- 
renewing  his  fun;  how  vivid  his  perceptions;  how  full  and  ripe 
his  knowledge  as  he  reviewed  it  in  the  famous  historical  places ; 


360  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

and  how,  when  he  longed  for  home,  he  would  brighten  the 
gloom  with  some  fitting  story,  or  mimic  one  of  the  many  odd 
foreigners  around  us.  He  was  naturally  considerate  and  un 
selfish,  and  his  deafness  made  me  always  anxious  to  amuse  him 
by  that  which  pleased  his  eye ;  but  he  would  anticipate  me  by 
taking  tickets  for  the  theatre  or  the  lecture-room,  and,  though 
he  could  scarcely  hear  a  word,  would  appear  to  enjoy  himself 
like  others.  He  had  a  habit  of  ridiculing  politicians  by  making 
speeches  in  which  he  would  travestie  their  manners  and  make 
them  express  thoughts  exactly  opposite  to  their  own.  No  com 
edy  ever  surpassed  these  capital  scenes,  and  when  he  had  his 
friends  around  him  at  his  own  house,  he  delighted  to  surprise 
them  by  some  entertainment,  always  novel  and  yet  always  point 
ed  with  a  moral.  Who  can  ever  forget  his  Washington's  Fare 
well  Address  in  the  Revolutionary  costume  of  the  Father  of  his 
Country  ?  It  was  a  composition  worthy  of  Boucicault  or  Dick 
ens.  These  and  his  books  were  the  pleasures  of  his  leisure 
hours.  And  now  our  friend,  so  full  of  health  and  hope  only  a 
few  days  ago,  is  laid  away  among  his  fathers.  Lost  to  us  his 
beaming  smile,  his  splendid  form,  his  grace,  his  courtesy,  his 
flowing  humor,  his  gentleness,  and  his  generosity ;  every  thing 
gone  but  their  memory,  which  will  live  long  in  the  hearts  of 
thousands  who  were 'made  happy  by  his  own  happy  nature,  and 
better  by  a  native  toleration  and  affection  at  once  impartial  and 
sincere. 

[October  6, 1872.] 


LXXXIL 


PRESIDENTIAL  elections  are  proverbially  uncertain  until  the 
October  contests  are  decided,  and  many  conflicting  hopes  are 
entertained  by  rival  parties.  The  exultation  of  the  victors  and 


PRESIDENTIAL    CONTESTS.  361 

the  disappointment  of  the  vanquished  are  naturally  extreme. 
Never  shall  I  forget  the  exciting  struggle  in  1844,  when  James 
K.  Polk  defeated  Henry  Clay.  The  rejoicing  of  the  Democrats 
and  the  agony  of  the  Whigs  of  Philadelphia  were  literally  ter 
rific.  Francis  R.  Shunk  had  been  elected  Governor  of  Penn 
sylvania  in  the  previous  October  by  a  small  majority,  and  the 
struggle  in  November  was  intense.  Immense  sums  were  haz 
arded  by  the  betting  men ;  but  when  the  October  fiat  was  pro 
nounced  in  Pennsylvania,  the  verdict  in  November  was  decided. 
It  also  practically  decided  the  fate  of  the  Whigs  as  a  party. 
Mr.  Clay  was  regarded  as  so  far  superior  to  Mr.  Polk  that  the 
triumph  of  the  latter  was  accepted  as  the  recognition  of  a  mere 
politician  and  the  degradation  of  a  great  statesman.  The  Ken- 
tuckian  never  recovered  from  it.  His  real  chance  was  lost  in 
1840,  when  Harrison  was  elected  over  Van  Buren,  and  I  was 
not  surprised  at  his  violence  after  his  party  had  preferred  a 
military  availability,  so  graphically  described  by  Henry  A.  Wise 
in  his  biography  of  John  Tyler,  just  published  by  J.  B.  Lippin- 
cott.  There  was  no  actual  contest  in  1848,  for  the  Democrats 
were  divided  between  Cass  and  Van  Buren,  and  General  Tay 
lor  had  an  easy  time  of  it.  In  1852  the  Whigs  made  their  last 
stand  as  a  party.  Having  set  Mr.  Clay  aside  in  1844,  they  ig 
nored  Webster  for  Scott  in  1852,  and  broke  the  heart  of  the 
great  New-Englander.  Pierce  literally  walked  over  the  course, 
aided  by  hosts  of  angry  Whigs.  But  in  1856  the  old  fires  were 
relighted.  The  Republicans  came  on  the  stage  that  year  in 
great  force,  openly  flying  the  banner  of  anti-slavery,  and  they 
would  have  won  but  for  the  pledges  of  the  Democratic  candi 
date  of  justice  to  Kansas.  The  October  fight  in  1856  in  Penn 
sylvania  decided  the  Presidency.  The  Democratic  majority 
was  small,  but  it  did  the  work  in  November.  In  1860  there 
was  again  not  much  of  a  struggle,  for  there  was  a  hopeless  di 
vision  among  the  Democrats,  who  from  that  time  began  to  grow 
weaker  and  weaker,  until  their  folly  ripened  into  the  rebellion. 

Q 


362  ANECDOTES   OF  PUBLIC    MEN. 

That  overthrown,  the  drama  was  soon  ended.  Their  single 
hope  of  recovery,  after  General  Grant's  inevitable  re-election,  is 
to  accept  Republican  ideas  in  full,  and  to  earn  the  confidence 
of  the  country  by  long  and  honest  devotion  to  them. 

Equanimity  in  defeat  is  as  pleasant,  and  yet  as  difficult  to 
exercise,  as  magnanimity  in  victory.     A  good  story  is  told  of 
the  veteran  Major  Noah,  of  New  York,  who,  after  having  been 
several  times  chosen  to  a  valuable  local  office,  lost  renomina- 
tion  and  ran  as  a  stump  candidate,  and  was  badly  beaten.    His 
negro  man,  not  realizing  the  event,  and  not  understanding  that 
the  groans  of  the  nocturnal  visitors  to  the  Major's  mansion 
were  any  different  from  their  cheers  of  former  times  when  they 
came  to  congratulate  him  on  his  triumph,  rushed  to  his  master's 
study,  exclaiming,  "  The  boys  are  at  the  door,  and  want  to  see 
you."     "  Give  them  my  respects,  Sam,"  was  the  good-natured 
reply,  "  and  tell  them  they  have  left  the  Democratic   party." 
Mr.  Clay  once  sarcastically  announced  to  Van  Buren,  while  the 
latter  was  Vice-President,  a  great  Whig  triumph,  upon  which 
Van  Buren  left  the  chair,  and,  walking  to  the  Kentucky  Sena 
tor's  seat,  took  a  pinch  of  snuff  out  of  his  box,  and  then  drew 
himself  up  directly  in  front  of  him  and  heard  him  through.     I 
saw  Judge  Douglas  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Febru 
ary  of  1 86 1,  while  the  electoral  votes  were  being  counted,  an 
nouncing  his  defeat  and  Lincoln's  election,  and  could  not  suffi 
ciently  admire  his  bonhomie  and  wit.     It  was  a  period  of  pain 
ful  suspense.     Breckinridge,  as  Vice-President,  was  president 
of  the  convention  of  the  two  houses,  and  had  himself  been  de 
feated  for  the  first  office  in  the  nation.     Many  of  the  Southern 
Senators  and  members  had  left  their  seats  in  advance  of  the 
formal  act  of  secession,  and  some  of  those  who  remained  were 
glowering  over  the  constitutional  act  of  recording  the  vote  of 
the  people  in  favor  of  the  abolitionist,  Abraham  Lincoln.    They 
had  a  special  hatred  of  Douglas,  whose  refusal  to  yield  to  Breck 
inridge  had  given  the  election  to  Lincoln  ;  but  how  well  he  bore 


"STOP  MY  PAPER!"  363 

himself,  how  jovially,  how  easily,  none  but  those  who  saw  him 
can  conceive.  Hate  and  distrust  around  him — the  hate  of  the 
Democrats  and  the  distrust  of  the  Republicans  ;  but  through 
all  he  bore  himself  like  the  truly  great  man  he  was.  In  six 
months  he  was  in  his  grave. 

[October  14,  1872.] 


LXXXIII. 

DURING  the  exciting  contest  led  by  the  Philadelphia  Press 
against  James  Buchanan's  Administration,  I  was  invited  on  the 
evening  of  October  28,  1858,  to  speak  in  the  beautiful  city  of 
Camden,  New  Jersey.  My  audience  was  large,  and  my  recep 
tion  cordial.  The  Press  had  attained  a  considerable  circulation 
in  Camden,  and  a  great  majority  of  all  parties  sympathized  with 
me  in  my  somewhat  hazardous  and  independent  stand. 

The  following  passage  from  my  speech  I  take  from  The  Press 
the  next  day,  October  29,  1858  : 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  I  have  a  most  melancholy  announcement 
to  make.  It  is  that  the  newspaper  The  Press  is  stopped — my 
Press  is  stopped.  [Sensation.]  I  did  not  expect,  in  coming 
here,  to  be  compelled  to  make  this  sorrowful  announcement, 
but  it  is  nevertheless  the  fact.  The  Press  is  stopped,  not  the 
establishment,  but  the  single  copy  which  the  President  of  the 
United  States  takes — it  is  stopped.  [Long-continued  shouts 
of  laughter.]  I  suppose  I  shall  survive  it.  [Renewed  laugh 
ter.]  I  have  no  doubt  I  shall  survive  it.  But  it  was  a  terrible 
blow.  I  do  not  think  ever  two  cents  created  so  much  havoc 
before.  But  we  shall  recover  j  we  shall  get  over  it.  And  now 
for  the  bright  part  of  the  story :  I  shall  receive  in  a  few  days 
almost  the  only  dollar  that  I  have  ever  received  from  the  Fed 
eral  Administration — which  will  be  about  $7  50  in  payment  of 


364  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

The  Press.  [Laughter.]  We  see  that  this  proscription  runs 
from  great  to  small.  It  attacks  a  popular  tribune,  and  it  strikes 
down  a  newspaper.  It  turns  out  a  postmaster,  and  it  refuses  to 
pay  two  cents  to  an  independent  journal. 

"  '  To  such  base  uses  must  we  come  at  last.' 

"  Thus  we  see  the  Administration  of  the  Federal  Government, 
presiding  over  thirty  millions  of  people,  with  all  its  vast  patron 
age,  with  all  its  great  power,  forgetting  all  its  duties  and  all  its 
pledges,  and  becoming  a  party  to  the  petty  proscriptions  which 
village  politicians  would  despise,  and  which  honorable  men 
would  laugh  at.  [Applause.] 

"When  this  Administration  policy  was  first  announced,  I  said, 
in  The  Press,  that  the  effect  would  be  to  disgrace  the  party,  un 
less  the  party  should  repudiate  it ;  and,  in  the  next  place,  to  de 
feat  hundreds  of  men  who  would  be  put  upon  Democratic  tick 
ets,  not  having  had  any  thing  to  do  with  the  betrayal.  Such 
has  been  the  result.  Many  and  many  a  glorious  Democrat, 
placed  upon  the  Democratic  ticket,  has  been  sent  to  obscurity 
because  the  opposition  party  has  risen  against  the  mistakes  of 
the  Federal  Administration,  and  because  the  Democratic  party, 
through  the  conventions  of  its  office-holders,  has  been  committed 
to  these  mistakes  and  pledged  to  support  them  as  a  portion  of 
the  party  duty. 

"You  have  seen  how  this  petty  proscription  has  extended 
itself  to  citizens  of  your  own  vicinity.  I  need  not  mention 
names ;  they  are  all  familiar  to  you.  But  it  is  well  that  it  is 
so  ;  it  is  better  that  it  is  so — it  is  a  great  deal  better.  We  have 
had  a  trial  that  has  done  us  all  good.  It  has  taught  all  parties 
that  the  day  for  betraying  public  opinion  and  for  violating  sol 
emn  pledges  has  gone.  You  will  have  no  more  traitors.  The 
men  who  go  to  Congress  now,  if  they  desire  to  live  and  to  die 
respected,  will  stand  by  the  pledges  which  they  make." 

This  transaction  proved  not  so  much  the  prejudice  of  my  old 
friend,  Buchanan,  as  it  did  his  littleness ;  and  now,  in  the  new 


WILLIAM    M.  SWAIN.  365 

and  difficult  path  I  am  treading,  I  quote  the  example  of  1858 
to  show  how  history  repeats  itself  in  1872.  That  remarkable 
man,  remarkable  in  almost  every  sense,  the  lamented  William 
M.  Swain,  one  of  the  proprietors  and  founders  of  the  Public 
Ledger,  always  liked  to  relate  the  incident  from  which  I  took 
the  idea  that  excited  the  risibilities  of  my  Camden  audience. 
The  story  is  so  much  better  told  by  my  friend  J.  D.  Stockton, 
of  the  Philadelphia  Morning  Post,  that  I  use  his  words  : 

"  By  his  course  in  regard  to  some  public  matter  he  had  of 
fended  a  number  of  his  readers,  one  of  whom  met  him  on  Chest 
nut  Street,  and  thus  accosted  him  : 

" '  Mr.  Swain,  I've  stopped  The  Ledger? 

"'What  is  that,  sir?' 

"  '  I've  stopped  The  Ledger]  was  the  stern  reply. 

"  '  Great  heavens  !'  said  Mr.  Swain  ;  '  my  dear  sir,  that  won't 
do.  Come  with  me  to  the  office.  This  must  be  looked  into.' 
And  taking  the  man  with  him,  he  entered  the  office  at  Third 
and  Chestnut  Streets.  There  they  found  the  clerks  busy  at 
their  desks ;  then  they  ascended  to  the  editorial-rooms  and  the 
composing-rooms,  where  all  was  as  usual ;  finally,  they  de 
scended  to  the  press-rooms,  where  the  engineers  were  at  work. 

" '  I  thought  you  told  me  you  had  stopped  The  Ledger,'  said 
Mr.  Swain. 

"  '  So  I  have,'  said  the  offended  subscriber. 

" '  I  don't  see  the  stoppage.  The  Ledger  seems  to  be  going 
on." 

"  '  Oh  !  I  mean  to  say— that  is,  that  7— ah— had  stopped  tak 
ing  it.' 

"'Is  that  all!'  exclaimed  Mr.  Swain.  'Why,  my  dear  sir, 
you  don't  know  how  you  alarmed  me.  As  for  your  individual 
subscription,  I  care  very  little.  Good-day,  sir,  and  never  make 
such  rash  assertions  again.' " 


366  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 


LXXXIV. 

HENRY  WIKOFF,  better  known  as  "  the  Chevalier,"  was  born 
in  Philadelphia,  where  he  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  He  must  now  be  over  sixty,  though  his  adventures 
would  indicate  him  to  be  a  much  older  man.  He  is  living  in 
London  at  present,  and  is  still  a  devoted  adherent  of  Louis 
Napoleon,  who  has  retired  with  Eugene  and  the  Prince  Impe 
rial  to  Chiselhurst,  some  twelve  miles  from  that  great  metrop 
olis.  Chevalier  Wikoff  is  one  of  his  constant  attendants  and 
friends.  His  devotion  to  Louis  Napoleon  began  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago.  He  visited  him  when  he  was  a  pris 
oner  at  the  Castle  of  Ham,  in  1845,  three  years  before  he  was 
made  President  of  France,  and  wrote  a  "  biography  and  per 
sonal  recollections"  of  him  in  1849.  Very  near  him  when  he 
became  Emperor,  he  enjoyed  large  advantages  during  the  brill 
iant  era  between  the  coup  d'etat  of  1851  and  the  flight  after  the 
fall  of  Sedan,  in  1870.  Once  more  an  exile,  Louis  Napoleon 
has  no  more  devoted  supporter  than  Wikoff.  A  characteristic 
of  this  citizen  of  the  world  is  his  attachment  to  celebrated  peo 
ple.  His  early  relations  with  Fanny  Elssler,  marked  by  a  bit 
ter  quarrel  with  James  Gordon  Bennett,  of  the  New  York  Her 
ald,  closed  in  the  warmest  friendship  with  the  veteran  journalist, 
which  remained  unbroken  down  to  his  death. 

You  might  travel  a  long  way  before  meeting  a  more  pleasant 
companion  than  the  cosmopolite  Wikoff.  He  has  seen  more 
of  the  world  than  most  men,  has  mingled  with  society  of  every 
shade  and  grade,  has  tasted  of  poverty  and  affluence,  talks  sev 
eral  languages  fluently,  is  skilled  in  etiquette,  art,  and  literature, 
and,  without  proclaimed  convictions,  is  a  shrewd  politician,  who 
understands  the  motives  and  opinions  of  others.  He  has  writ 
ten  several  books  in  addition  to  the  biography  of  his  idol,  Louis 
Napoleon,  including  his  strange  experience  with  Miss  Gamble, 


HENRY    WIKOFF.  367 

entitled  "  My  Courtship  and  its  Consequences,"  "  The  Advent 
ures  of  a  Roving  Diplomatist,"  "  A  New-Yorker  in  the  Foreign 
Office,  and  his  Adventures  in  Paris."  Here  we  have  the  photo' 
graphs  of  his  life.  From  these  we  realize  how  such  a  character 
would  entertain  an  editor  like  Bennett,  a  statesman  like  Buchan 
an,  a  monarch  like  Louis  Napoleon.  Ranging  through  all  socie 
ty,  he  can  talk  of  love,  law,  literature,  and  war  ;  can  describe  the 
rulers  and  thinkers  of  his  time,  can  gossip  of  courts  and  cabi 
nets,  of  the  boudoir  and  the  salon,  of  commerce  and  the  Church, 
of  the  peer  and  the  pauper,  of  Dickens  and  Thackeray,  of  Vic 
tor  Hugo  and  Louis  Blanc,  of  Lamartine  and  Laboulaye,  of 
Garibaldi  and  the  Pope,  of  Lincoln  and  Stanton,  of  Buchanan 
and  Pierce,  of  the  North  and  the  South,  of  the  opera  and  the 
theatre,  of  General  Sickles  and  Tammany  Hall,  and  of  the  inner 
life  of  almost  any  capital  in  the  world.  With  such  gifts,  aided 
by  an  air  distingue,  a  fine  address  and  a  manner  after  the  En 
glish  model,  Wikoff  has  the  entree  in  many  circles  which  higher 
intellect  and  deserving^^can  never  penetrate. 

Wikoff 's  diplomacy  was  never  better  illustrated  than  in  mak 
ing  James  Gordon  Bennett  and  James  Buchanan  friends.  Ben 
nett  had  taken  great  dislike  to  Buchanan,  and  opposed  his 
election  in  1856  with  unsparing  severity.  Never  was  The  Her 
ald  more  sarcastic.  Every  paragraph  told ;  every  sentence 
touched  the  sensitive  nerve ;  and  when  the  fight  was  over,  and 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  successful,  the  rejoicing  was  not  less  general 
because  it  was  supposed  that  Bennett  had  been  annihilated. 
But  now  Wikoff  began  to  operate.  He  knew  how  much  Bu 
chanan  feared  a  great  newspaper,  especially  an  independent 
one  like  The  Herald,  and  he  soon  convinced  Buchanan  that  it 
would  be  fortunate  if  he  could  secure  The  Herald  as  a  supporter 
of  his  Administration.  I  do  not  think  any  consideration  was 
named,  for,  whatever  may  be  said  of  Mr.  Bennett,  he  accepted 
no  office  while  he  was  a  journalist,  though  it  is  known  that  more 
than  once  high  position  was  tendered  to  him.  At  all  events, 


368  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

The  Herald  changed  tack  promptly  and  gracefully,  and  Wikoff 
was  ever  after  a  welcome  visitor  at  the  White  House.  The 
Presidential  mind  was  set  at  ease,  until  the  Kansas  war  broke 
out,  when  The  Herald  faithfully  represented  public  opinion,  and 
warned  the  Administration  of  the  folly  of  its  course. 

Count  d'Orsay  was  evidently  Wikoff's  ideal,  and  the  two  men 
were  much  alike.  It  was  d'Orsay  that  effected  the  interview 
between  Louis  Napoleon  and  Wikoff  in  1845.  The  following 
extract  from  the  opening  pages  of  Wikoff's  book,  describing 
this  visit,  is  interesting,  as  it  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  style  of  the 
Chevalier,  and  a  fair  portrait  of  the  titled  exquisite  he  tries  to 
imitate.  This  passage  is  not  less  curious  because  Wikoff  is 
just  now  the  courteous  intermediary  between  Louis  Napoleon, 
ex-Emperor,  and  such  Americans  as  desire  to  pay  him  their 
respects  in  his  retreat  at  Chiselhurst : 

"  In  passing  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  in  the  summer 
of  1845,  Just  previous  to  my  departure  for  Europe,  I  stopped  at 
the  princely  residence  of  the.  late  Joseph  Bonaparte  (near  Bor- 
dentown),  ex-King  of  Spain,  to  make  mes  adieux  to  its  present 
owner,  the  young  Prince  de  Musignano,  who,  having  inherited 
this,  along  with  other  valuable  property  in  this  country,  from 
his  grandfather,  had  just  arrived  from  Italy  to  take  possession. 

"  The  few  brief  hours  to  which  I  was  limited  sped  rapidly  in 
the  gay  society  of  my  affable  host  and  his  intelligent  compan 
ion,  M.  Maillard,  and  we  had  barely  time  to  glance  at  the  num 
berless  and  splendid  objects  of  art  and  curiosity  which  embel 
lished  this  luxurious  mansion,  when  a  servant  announced  the 
approach  of  the  New  York  train. 

"  As  I  was  hurrying  away  the  Prince  remarked,  *  You  are  go 
ing  to  France ;  why  not  make  an  effort  to  see  my  unfortunate 
cousin,  Prince  Louis  ?  He  will  be  glad,  I  am  sure,  to  meet  an 
old  acquaintance,  and  I  should  be  delighted,  on  your  return,  to 
receive  personal  tidings  of  his  health,  which,  I  am  distressed  to 
learn,  is  sadly  deranged  by  his  imprisonment.  If  you  should 


COUNT  D'ORSAY.  369 

succeed,  tell  him  *  *  *     And  say,  also,  that  my  best  wishes 
are  with  him.' 

"I  relate  this  simple  circumstance  because  it  explains  in  a 
word  why  I  formed  a  resolution  on  the  instant  to  get  an  interior 
view  of  the  Citadel  of  Ham,  if  such  an  enterprise  should  prove 
at  all  compatible  with  the  very  rigid  notions  of  political  seclu 
sion  entertained  by  Louis  Philippe  and  his  Ministers.  During 
my  stay  in  London  I  mentioned  my  project  to  several  friends 
of  Prince  Louis,  who  thought  the  idea  rather  quixotic,  as  the 
Government  suffered  no  relations  of  any  sort  to  be  kept  up  with 
the  lone  captive  of  Ham.  The  late  well-known  refusal  to  al 
low  one  of  his  family,  sojourning  by  permission  for  a  few  days 
at  Paris,  to  visit  him,  was  suggested  as  a  proof  of  the  impracti 
cability,  if  not  absurdity,  of  my  hopes.  There  was  one  individ 
ual,  however,  whose  views  were  more  sanguine,  and  I  was  nat 
urally  more  inclined  to  coincide  with  him.  But  there  were  bet 
ter  reasons  still  to  rely  on,  whatever  advice  he  gave.  I  am 
speaking  of  the  far-famed  Count  Alfred  d'Orsay,  whose  reputa 
tion  is  spread  over  the  fashionable  world  of  Europe  and  Ameri 
ca,  but  whose  real  merits  soar  much  beyond  the  frivolous  ac 
complishments  which  have  given  him  such  wide  celebrity.  To 
be  celebrated  at  all,  no  matter  by  what  means,  be  they  high  or 
low,  elevated  or  vulgar,  talent  I  consider  is  indispensable ;  and 
to  obtain  the  social  position  held  at  one  epoch  by  a  Beau  Brum- 
mel,  and,  at  a  later,  by  a  Count  d'Orsay,  nothing  short  of  men 
tal  superiority  of  a  high  cast  is  requisite.  This  idea  is  fully  sup 
ported,  at  all  events,  in  the  present  instance,  for  I  have  seldom, 
in  any  rank  of  life,  or  among  the  higher  grades  of  employment, 
encountered  intellectual  qualities  of  rarer  excellence  than  those 
which  distinguish  a  man  chiefly  known  in  the  light  of  a  vain 
'carpet  knight.'  An  elegant  and  fascinating  man  of  the  world 
he  undoubtedly  is.  An  adept  in  dress,  easy  in  manners,  ac 
complished  in  the  conventions  of  the  drawing-room — a  science 
apart,  made  up  of  the  dictates  of  good-breeding  and  the  require- 

Q  * 


370  ANECDOTES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

ments  of  etiquette — fertile  in  conversation,  and  of  brilliant  wit, 
the  Count  d'Orsay  is  certainly  well-qualified  to  realize  our  vis 
ionary  ideas  of  that  paragon  of  whom  the  poet  dscribes  as  'the 
glass  of  fashion  and  the  mould  of  form.'  Those,  however,  are 
rather  the  endowments  which  would  secure  him  pre-eminence 
in  the  land  of  his  birth ;  for  France  is  par  excellence  the  land  of 
society,  and  to  succeed  there,  grace  of  manner  and  charms  of 
mind  are  indispensable.  But  in  England  the  case  is  very  dif 
ferent  ;  and  Count  d'Orsay,  with  all  his  savoir  faire,  would  nev 
er  have  reached  the  position  he  has  held  for  so  many  years  un 
rivaled,  without  an  equal  skill  and  proficiency  in  those  ruder 
but  still  manly  accomplishments  which  constitute  the  basis  of 
his  English  popularity.  The  best  rider,  the  most  daring  sports 
man,  the  skillful  bettor,  the  inimitable  shot,  the  unrivaled  spar- 
rer,  these  are  the  merits  towering  in  English  eyes,  and  which 
have  made  his  name  in  England  so  long  familiar  as  a  household 
word.  Of  later  years,  abandoning  these  grosser  occupations, 
he  has,  with  that  well-poised  effort  which  never  falls  short  of 
its  mark,  and  which  explains  his  marvelous  success  in  all  he 
has  undertaken,  given  himself  wholly  up  to  art,  and  his  produc 
tions  in  painting  and  statuary  have  already  thrown  the  world  of 
taste  in  commotion,  and  are  building  him  a  reputation  which,  if 
less  sounding  than  that  he  has  hitherto  enjoyed,  is  infinitely  more 
enviable.  But  to  me  the  attractive  feature  of  Count  d'Orsay's 
character  has  always  been  what  the  promiscuous  world  he  lives 
in  knows  nothing  about,  and  that  is,  his  cultivated  and  aspiring 
intellect,  which,  in  depth  and  keenness,  is  adequate  to  the  com 
prehension  of  the  grandest  questions,  and  capable  of  estimating 
them  accurately  in  their  nicest  details.  His  knowledge  of  men 
and  things  is  extensive  and  rare,  and  his  criticisms  overflow 
with  point  andj£tt£tt£  It  is  little  imagined  by  the  giddy  crowd 
around  him,  whose  dullness  is  enlivened  by  his  wit,  that  the 
showy  man  of  fashion  is  a  studious  thinker  and  a  careful  writer, 
and  that  the  moments  of  leisure,  stolen  from  the  gay  dissipa- 


HENRY    WIKOFF.  371 

tions  of  the  London  world,  have  been  devoted  to  the  record  of 
his  impressions  on  life,  numbering  some  seven  volumes  of  man 
uscript.  Their  merit  may  be  inferred  from  the  glowing  praise 
bestowed  by  Lord  Byron  on  his  traveling  journal,  written  when 
only  twenty  years  of  age.  In  a  word,  Count  d'Orsay  may  be 
esteemed  beyond  comparison  the  Admirable  Crichton  of  the  day, 
and  I  have  cheerfully  allowed  myself  to  run  into  this  digression 
concerning  this  remarkable  person,  as  so  enviable  a  chance 
may  never  offer  to  give  the  result  of  many  years'  observation 
of  a  character  variously  interpreted  and  little  understood.'  " 

Men  have  different  tastes.  Some  aspire  to  wealth,  some  to 
high  office,  some  to  scientific  fame,  and  others  to  excellence  in 
works  of  charity ;  but  Wikoff  is  only  happy  in  the  society  of  the 
cultivated  and  the  powerful.  He  is  the  Boswell  of  our  day, 
who  prefers  to  bask  in  the  fame  of  others  rather  than  in  the 
milder  radiance  of  his  own.  He  must  not  be  called  mercenary. 
Unlike  the  favorites  that  were  sunned  and  ripened  in  the  smiles 
of  Louis  Napoleon,  he  sticks  to  the  unfortunate  Emperor.  He 
clung  to  Ge'neral  Sickles  in  his  darkest  hour,  and  though  he 
sturdily  stood  by  James  Gordon  Bennett,  the  rich  man,  he  was 
also  one  of  his  most  industrious  correspondents.  But  he  never 
quarrels  with  power  if  he  can  get  on  peacefully.  Politics  make 
no  difference  with  him.  He  was  just  as  friendly  with  Lincoln 
as  with  Buchanan,  and  did  Mr.  Seward's  work  as  faithfully  as 
that  of  Louis  Napoleon.  One  of  his  mottoes  is  never  to  adopt 
the  enmities  of  others,  but  to  make  life  pleasant,  and  to  culti 
vate  kindly  relations  with  "  all  the  world  and  the  rest  of  man 
kind,"  as  President  Taylor  said  with  awkward  benevolence  in 
his  first  and  last  message  to  Congress. 

[October  27, 1872.] 


372  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 


LXXXV. 

WHAT  a  mine  of  incident  is  such  a  life  as  that  of  William  H. 
Seward !  He  dies  at  a  time  when  at  least  one  of  his  theories 
is  practicalized.  He  has  been  pleading  for  reconciliation  for 
a  long  time,  and  he  dies  in  the  midst  of  reconciliation.  The 
advanced  anti-slavery  leader,  he  has  always  been  one  of  the 
most  moderate  and  conciliatory  of  men.  In  1860-61,  after  Mr. 
Lincoln's  election,  Mr.  Seward  was  distinguished  for  his  efforts 
to  keep  the  peace  between  the  sections.  The  Southern  men 
were  violent.  Wigfall  thundered  his  anathemas;  Slidell  was 
satirical ;  Toombs  was  threatening ;  Mason  was  dictatorial— 
but,  obedient  to  Mr.  Seward's  counsel,  the  Republicans,  having 
won  the  administration  of  the  Government,  were  generally  si 
lent.  Andrew  Johnson,  a  Democrat,  broke  the  bonds  in  De 
cember  of  1860,  and  again  in  February  of  1861,  and  bold  Ben 
Wade,  of  Ohio,  answered  the  South  in  the  fiercest  rhetoric. 
Mr.  Lincoln  surprised  every  body  by  a  visit  to  the  Hall  of  Con 
gress  on  the  23d  or  24th  of  February,  1861,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Seward,  then  known  to  be  his  Secretary  of  State,  and  the 
exceeding  mildness  of  his  inaugural  address — the  succeeding 
inauguration  speech  of  March  4 — was  undoubtedly  inspired  by 
Mr.  Seward's  counsel.  He  knew  at  an  early  date  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  life  was  threatened ;  he  had  a  full  foretaste  of  the 
conspiracy  which,  four  years  after,  in  April  of  1865,  killed  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  came  near  killing  himself;  and  his  effort  was  to 
ward  off  the  blow  that  finally  and  fatally  fell.  It  is  a  curious 
comment  on  the  times  that  the  most  generous  and  magnanimous 
men  of  the  first  real  Republican  administration  of  the  Govern 
ment  should  have  been  the  first  official  victims  of  the  pro-slav 
ery  fanatics.  Had  Lincoln  lived,  the  whole  current  of  legisla 
tion  would  have  been  different.  I  am  disposed  to  believe  that 
his  death  did  not  force  more  vigorous  measures,  though  Andrew 


WILLIAM    H.  SEWARD.  373 

Johnson  was  a  sad  supplement  in  himself.  He  offered  much, 
and  lost  all,  to  the  South,  and  he  made  a  rigid  reconstruction 
so  necessary  that  even  the  men  who  complain  of  it  most  no 
longer  deny  that  it  was  justified. 

I  heard  an  anecdote  of  Mr.  Seward's  patient  temperament  a 
few  days  ago  that  deserves  mention.  In  June  of  1856,  after 
Preston  S.  Brooks  committed  his  brutal  assault  on  Charles 
Sumner,  Mrs.  Seward  was  exceedingly  anxious  for  the  safety 
of  her  husband,  and  advised  him  to  protect  himself.  "Well, 
my  dear,"  was  the  answer,  "what  shall  I  do?  I  am  a  man  of 
peace ;  I  never  reply  to  personal  attacks ;  how  am  I  to  defend 
myself?  Shall  I  go  to  the  Senate  with  a  musket  or  rifle  on  my 
shoulder  ?  If  I  use  pistols,  I  am  sure  you  will  not  ask  me  to 
shoot  anybody  without  notice.  You  say  no.  Well,  then,  it 
will  be  my  duty,  if  I  carry  revolvers,  to  lay  them  on  my  Sena 
torial  desk,  so  that  all  men  may  see  that  I  am  ready  to  kill  any 
body  at  a  moment's  notice.  I  think  this  is  my  best  weapon," 
he  said,  as  he  closed  the  interview,  and  picked  up  the  whip  he 
carried  as  a  sort  of  metaphorical  help  to  the  old  horse  that  car 
ried  him  to  the  Capitol. 

He  goes  hence  to  the  mysterious  world,  while  Thurlow  Weed, 
his  devoted  chief,  is  dying,  and  while  the  bouse  of  Horace  Gree- 
ley,  his  early  advocate,  is  stricken  with  unspeakable  woe.  So 
the  "  human  ocean  "  moves  on.  Like  the  eternal  sea  itself,  its 
current  is  perpetual,  though  millions  live  on  its  bosom  and  per 
ish  in  its  depths. 

[November  3,  1872.] 


LXXXVI. 

I  MET,  a  few  days  ago,  one  of  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress,  and  together 
we  talked  over  the  exciting  session  during  which,  as  Clerk 


374  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

of  the  old  House,  I  officiated  as  presiding  officer  when  the  new 
body  was  preparing  to  organize.  It  was  a  long  and  angry 
struggle,  and  from  December  2,  1855,  to  February  2,  1856,  I 
played  Speaker  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  receiving,  when  the 
contest  closed,  the  unanimous  thanks  of  the  House,  and  double 
the  Speaker's  pay.  My  friend  Horace  Greeley  was  the  chief 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  and  at  first  severely 
criticised  me  because  he  thought  I  was  a  prejudiced  partisan  ; 
but,  as  the  fight  progressed,  he  discarded  his  suspicions  and 
stood  by  me  to  the  end,  going  so  far,  in  1857,  as  to  ask  Presi 
dent  Buchanan,  in  an  editorial  article,  to  put  me  in  his  Cabinet 
— a  compliment,  by  the  way,  which  I  had  the  honor  to  recipro 
cate  four  years  after,  in  1860,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  me  a  let 
ter  of  thanks  for  my  opposition  to  the  Buchanan  Administra 
tion,  in  reply  to  which  I  suggested  Horace  Greeley  for  his 
Postmaster -General.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  already  selected  Mr. 
Seward  for  the  State  Department.  In  his  answer  to  my  rec 
ommendation  he  paid  Mr.  Greeley  as  high  a  compliment  as 
one  great  man  could  pay  to  another.  Many  of  those  who  fig 
ured  in  that  trying  period  in  Congress  have  gone  to  their  rest, 
while  the  survivors  have  met  strange  vicissitudes.  Sixteen 
years  have  wrought  curious  results.  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia; 
Anson  Burlingame,  of  Massachusetts ;  Henry  Winter  Davis, 
of  Maryland;  Henry  M.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania,  are  in  their 
graves.  They  were  men  of  mark,  far  above  the  common  level, 
and  were  early  called.  Governor  Cobb  was  worn  out  by  the 
rebellion,  in  which  he  took  an  active  part ;  Burlingame  died  in 
the  midst  of  an  extraordinary  diplomatic  career ;  Davis,  the 
most  incisive  and  brilliant  orator  of  his  time,  passed  off  in  the 
zenith  of  his  fame;  and  Fuller  left  a  mourning  family  and  a 
host  of  devoted  friends  at  a  time  when  the  future  seemed  bright 
before  him.  Of  the  living,  the  most  distinguished  are  John 
Hickman,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia ; 
N.  P.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts ;  James  L.  Orr,  of  South  Caro- 


ELECTION    OF    SPEAKER.  375 

lina ;  E.  B.  Washburne,  of  Illinois  (now  American  Minister  to 
France) ;  Schuyler  Colfax,  of  Indiana  (Vice-President) ;  John 
Sherman,  now  Senator  in  Congress  from  Ohio ;  and  Francis 
E.  Spinner,  of  New  York,  present  United  States  Treasurer. 
The  whole  time  from  December  to  February  was  consumed  in 
ineffectual  ballotings  to  elect  a  Speaker,  and  in  discursive  de 
bate,  involving  the  issues  of  the  day  and  every  conceivable  sub 
ject.  Parties  were  closely  balanced,  the  Know-Nothings  or 
Americans  holding  the  balance  of  power;  but,  as  they  were  not 
united,  no  decision  could  be  reached  until  Congress  and  the 
country  were  fairly  worn  out  by  the  weary  conflict.  Finally 
Hon.  Samuel  A.  Smith,  a  Democrat,  from  Tennessee,  on  Satur 
day,  the  2d  of  February,  offered  the  following  resolution,  which 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  11.3  to  104  : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  House  will  proceed  immediately  to  the 
election  of  a  Speaker,  viva  voce.  If,  after  the  roll  shall  have 
been  called  three  times,  no  member  shall  have  received  a  ma 
jority  of  all  the  votes  cast,  the  roll  shall  again  be  called,  and 
the  member  who  shall  then  receive  the  largest  vote,  provided 
it  be  a  majority  of  a  quorum,  shall  be  declared  duly  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-fourth 
Congress." 

This  brought  the  protracted  struggle  to  a  close.  Several  ef 
forts  were  made  to  repeal  it.  Hon.  Percy  Walker,  of  Alabama, 
one  of  the  Know-Nothing  leaders,  saw  that  Mr.  Smith's  resolu 
tion  looked  to  the  election  of  a  Republican  Speaker,  and  made 
every  effort  to  rescind  it.  As  we  were  not  acting  under  any 
rules,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  work  before  the  House  had  to  de 
pend  on  the  common-sense  of  the  Chair,  I  decided  that  his  motion 
to  rescind  the  resolution  was  in  order,  rather  to  let  him  see  that  I 
was  impartial  than  to  show  my  tenacity  in  adherence  to  Parlia 
mentary  law.  An  appeal  was  taken,  and,  as  I  expected,  my  de 
cision  was  overruled.  Then  came  the  vote  on  the  resolution 
itself,  and  on  the  issd  ballot,  after  a  two  months'  fight,  N.  P. 


376  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

Banks  was  chosen  Speaker  on  a  plurality.  The  practice  in 
former  years  had  been  for  the  House  to  adopt  a  resolution  de 
claring  the  Speaker  who  had  received  a  majority  of  the  votes 
to  be  elected;  but  I  saw  that  such  action  would  reopen  the 
question,  and  would  force  the  House  to  another  vote,  perhaps 
into  a  revolution,  and,  by  consulting  the  tellers,  who  represent 
ed  both  parties,  we  determined  to  declare  Banks  elected,  with 
out  any  reference  to  the  House.  A  scene  of  the  wildest  confu 
sion  ensued.  I  was  denounced  in  unsparing  terms,  and  Mr.  A. 
K.  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  took  the  ground  that  I  had  trans 
cended  precedent.  I  quote  the  following  from  the  official  pro 
ceedings  in  The  Globe : 

MR.  MARSHALL,  of  Kentucky.  "I  ask  now,  in  connection  with 
the  remarks  which  I  have  made,  whether  the  gentleman  who 
now  acts  as  Clerk  of  this  House  [Mr.  Forney],  and  who  has 
presided  with  so  much  fairness  and  so  much  dignity,  and  with 
out  having  assumed  the  exercise  of  any  right  which  was  not 
clearly  and  legitimately  his,  who  has  refused  on  questions  of 
order  to  give  any  decision — I  ask  that  gentleman  if  he  will 
now,  on  this  great  and  vital  question,  dare  —  ah!  that  is  the 
word — whether  he  will  dare,  in  the  absence  of  all  official  power, 
to  induct  into  that  chair  a  man  who  has  not  received  a  majority 
of  the  votes  of  this  body  ?  If  he  does,  I  will,  for  one,  have  to 
change  much  of  the  high  opinion  which  I  have  and  still  hold 
for  that  honorable  gentleman." 

The  Clerk  (MR.  FORNEY).  "  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  will 
permit  the  Clerk  to  make  a  few  words  of  explanation.  The 
House  adopted  a  resolution  to-day  providing  in  terms  that  at  a 
certain  stage  a  plurality  vote  should  govern.  The  Clerk  will 
say  to  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  that  if  he  has  any  feeling 
in  this  canvass  it  is  not  certainly  in  favor  of  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts.  The  course  was  pursued  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  resolution,  which  it  was  thought  was  the  proper 
one.  The  Clerk  was  actuated  by  no  motives  but  those  of  a  de- 


ELECTION    OF    SPEAKER.  377 

sire  to  continue  to  be  impartial.  He  consulted  with  the  officers 
of  the  House,  who  are  older  and  better  acquainted  with  the  du 
ties  of  this  station  than  himself.  He  also  consulted  with  the 
gentlemen  who  are  tellers,  and  who  represent  the  two  great 
parties  respectively.  The  consultation  resulted  in  this  conclu 
sion.  If  there  is  error  in  the  matter  he  throws  himself  on  the 
indulgence  of  the  House,  trusting  that  the  gentlemen  who  have 
sustained  him  thus  far  will  carry  him  through  the  question 
which  is  now  about  to  be  settled." 

MR.  CAMPBELL,  of  Ohio.  "  Mr.  Clerk,  from  the  beginning  I 
have  held  that  a  Speaker  ought  to  be  elected  by  a  majority  vote, 
and  I  now  submit  it  to  the  honor  of  those  gentlemen  who  voted 
for  the  plurality  rule,  whether  it  does  not  become  them  now  to 
carry  out  that  rule  and  end  the  struggle  that  has  been  disgrace 
ful  to  us  and  the  country.  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the 
danger  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  What !  Has  it  come  to 
this,  that  the  election  of  any  man  can  dissolve  this  glorious 
Union  ?  [Applause.]  I  do  not  care  what  may  be  the  senti 
ments  of  the  gentleman  who  is  to  preside  over  our  delibera 
tions;  I  shall  be  found  one  of  the  foremost  in  assailing  him  if 
he  dares  to  do  any  thing  that  would  separate  the  Union  of  these 
States. 

"  It  would  seem  that  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  has  taken 
the  Union  under  his  particular  charge.  Sir,  I  think  that  there 
are  those  of  us  in  the  free  States  who  will  be  found  to  the  last 
for  the  union  of  these  States.  I  am  an  American.  I  am  for 
the  Constitution  of  my  country  as  the  highest  law  which  is  to 
control  our  political  action,  and  for  the  union  of  these  States 
under  any  circumstances  that  may  surround  us.  If  I  thought 
that  my  heart  was  capable  of  cherishing  a  sentiment  that  would 
tend  to  a  disruption  of  this  Union,  I  would,  if  I  could,  tear  it 
out  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs." 

MR.  CLINGMAN.  "  I  have  the  floor  now  to  say  a  few  words. 
I  was  endeavoring  to  get  it  when  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  rose, 


378  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

and  as  soon  as  the  point  of  order  was  raised.  I  anticipated 
something  of  this  early  in  the  session ;  and  when  I  spoke  of 
going  for  the  plurality  rule,  the  question  was  frequently  put  to 
me  by  gentlemen  upon  the  other  side,  whether,  if  that  rule  was 
adopted,  I  would  then  vote  for  such  a  resolution  as  was  adopted 
in  1849.  I  replied  that  I  regarded  no  such  resolution  as  neces 
sary,  because  the  previous  resolution  was  sufficient — that  it  was 
the  act  of  a  majority  of  the  House.  That  was  the  opinion  I 
then  entertained,  and  hold  the  same  opinion  now.  The  reso 
lution  declares  that  the  person  who  receives  the  highest  number 
of  votes  shall  be  Speaker.  The  tellers  merely  announce  who 
has  that  vote,  and  I  entertain  the  opinion  that  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts  can  take  his  seat  under  the  resolution ;  that 
was  and  is  now  my  opinion.  But  I  saw  that  if  the  plurality 
rule  were  resorted  to,  whether  or  not  you  could  pass  a  resolu 
tion  declaring  the  gentleman  who  received  the  highest  number 
of  votes  for  Speaker  would  depend  upon  its  phraseology.  I  say 
now  to  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  and  to  others,  that  if  a  resolu 
tion  shall  be  offered  declaring  that  the  gentleman  from  Massa 
chusetts  has  been  elected  Speaker  by  virtue  of  that  plurality 
resolution,  if  they  think  it  necessary,  I  will  vote  for  it." 

MR.  COBB,  of  Georgia.  "Allusion  has  been  made  to  what 
occurred  here  at  the  time  that  I  was  elected  Speaker  of  this 
House;  and  as  I  differ  with  some  of  my  friends  with  reference 
to  their  construction  of  what  was  done  then,  and  what  is  neces 
sary  to  be  done  now,  and  as  I  may  be  called  upon  to  vote  upon 
some  resolution  connected  with  this  matter,  I  desire  to  place 
myself  right  before  the  House,  and  to  give  the  reasons  for  the 
vote  which  I  shall  give.  In  1849,  when  it  was  determined  to 
adopt  the  plurality  rule,  it  was  assailed  as  violative  of  the  Con 
stitution.  In  order  to  avoid  any  difficulty  upon  that  subject  it 
was,  by  general  consent  among  those  who  were  in  favor  of  it, 
agreed  that  a  resolution  should  be  offered  affirming  the  election, 
and  that  was  done.  At  the  time,  occupying  the  position  that  I 


N.  P.  BANKS    ELECTED.  379 

did,  I  was  asked  the  question, '  Whether,  in  my  opinion,  it  was 
necessary  that  this  should  be  done?'  I  gave  the -same  opinion 
then  that  I  entertain  now,  and  that  I  have  repeatedly  given 
when  asked  the  question  during  this  canvass ;  and  I  feel  it  clue 
to  candor  now  to  state  it.  I  hold  that  it  is  necessary  for  a  ma 
jority  of  this  House  to  elect  a  Speaker;  but  I  hold,  at  the  same 
time,  that  a  majority  of  this  House  adopting  the  plurality  rule, 
where  a  plurality  vote  is  cast  for  any  member,  he  is  elected  by 
virtue  of  the  resolution  originally  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the 
House.  [Applause.] 

"  When,  sir,  it  was  thought  there  was  a  probability  that  the 
gentleman  for  whom  I  voted  would  be  elected,  I  gave  that  opin 
ion  then.  I  also  gave  it  to  those  on  the  other  side  of  the  House 
who  thought  proper  to  ask  my  opinion  upon  the  subject.  I  en 
tertain  no  doubt  in  reference  to  it.  Therefore  I  can  not  agree 
with  either  of  my  friends  from  Kentucky  that  it  is  incumbent 
upon  those  who  voted  for  the  plurality  rule  to  perfect  the  election 
of  Mr.  Banks  by  a  resolution.  I  think  Mr.  Banks  has  already 
been  elected.  My  friends  upon  this  floor  know  that  I  have 
appealed  to  them  from  the  commencement  of  this  struggle." 
MR.  WHEELER.  "  I  offer  the  following  resolution  : 
"< Resolved,  That  the  Hon.  Wm.  Aiken,  of  South  Carolina;  the 
Hon.  Henry  M.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania;  and  the  Hon.  Lewis  D. 
Campbell,  of  Ohio,  be  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  upon  the 
Hon.  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  Jr.,  of  Massachusetts,  the  Speaker 
elect,  and  conduct  him  to  the  chair.' " 

MR.  GIDDINGS.  "  I  hope  that  resolution  will  not  be  adopted. 
It  is  an  innovation  on  the  whole  past  practice  of  the  House. 
The  Clerk  always  appoints  a  committee  to  conduct  the  Speaker 
to  the  chair." 

MR.  WHEELER.  "  I  withdraw  the  resolution." 
"  The  Clerk  then  requested  Messrs.  Fuller,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Aiken,  of  South  Carolina,  and  Campbell,  of  Ohio,  to  conduct 
the  Speaker  elect  to  the  chair. 


380  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

"  The  gentlemen  designated  proceeded  to  discharge  this  duty, 
and  Mr.  Banks  was  thereupon  conducted  to  the  chair,  and  took 
his  seat. 

"After  a  moment's  pause  the  Speaker  rose  and  addressed 
the  House  as  follows  : 

"  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  :  Before 
I  proceed  to  complete  my  acceptance  of  the  office  to  which  I 
am  elected,  I  avail  myself  of  your  indulgence  to  express  my 
acknowledgments  for  the  honor  conferred  upon  me.  It  would 
afford  me  far  greater  pleasure  in  taking  the  chair  of  the  House 
were  I  supported  even  by  the  self-assurance  that  I  could  bring 
to  the  discharge  of  its  duties,  always  arduous  and  delicate,  and 
now  environed  with  unusual  difficulties,  any  capacity  commen 
surate  with  their  responsibility  and  dignity.  I  can  only  say 
that,  in  so  far  as  I  am  able,  I  shall  discharge  my  duty  with  fidel 
ity  to  the  Constitution,  and  with  impartiality  as  it  regards  the 
rights  of  members.  I  have  no  personal  objects  to  accomplish. 
I  am  animated  by  the  single  desire  that  I  may  in  some  degree 
aid  in  maintaining  the  well-established  principles  of  our  Govern 
ment  in  their  original  and  American  signification  ;  in  developing 
the  material  interests  of  that  portion  of  the  continent  we  occupy, 
so  far  as  we  may  do  within  the  limited  and  legitimate  powers 
conferred  upon  us;  in  enlarging  and  swelling  the  capacity  of 
our  Government  for  beneficent  influences  at  home  and  abroad ; 
and,  above  all,  in  preserving  intact  and  in  perpetuity  the  price 
less  privileges  transmitted  to  us.  I  am,  of  course,  aware  that  I 
can  not  hope  of  my  own  strength  to  be  equal  to  the  perfect  ex 
ecution  of  the  duties  I  now  assume.  I  am,  therefore,  as  every 
man  must  be  who  stands  in  such  presence,  a  suppliant  for  your 
co-operation  and  indulgence ;  and,  accepting  your  honors  with 
this  declaration,  I  again  offer  you  my  thanks." 

MR.  STANTON  (Dem.).  "  I  have  a  resolution  that  I  desire  to 
offer,  which  I  know  will  meet  with  the  unanimous  approbation 
of  the  House,  and  it  would  spoil  by  delay.  It  is  as  follows  : 


THANKS  VOTED  TO  JOHN  W.  FORNEY.          381 

"  ' Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  eminently  due 
and  are  hereby  tendered  to  John  W.  Forney,  Esq.,  for  the  dis 
tinguished  ability,  fidelity,  and  impartiality  with  which  he  has 
presided  over  the  deliberations  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
during  the  arduous  and  protracted  contest  for  Speaker  which 
has  just  closed.' " 

MR.  CAMPBELL,  of  Ohio  (Whig).  "  I  sought  the  floor  to  offer 
a  similar  resolution,  and  I  hope  that  it  will  be  unanimously 
adopted." 

"  The  question  was  taken,  and  the  resolution  was  unanimously 
adopted. 

MR.  WHEELER  (Rep.).  "I  offer  the  following  resolution,  and 
upon  it  demand  the  previous  question  : 

"  'Resolved,  That  there  be  paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of 
the  House  to  John  W.  Forney,  late  Clerk,  in  addition  to  the  sal 
ary  allowed  him  by  law,  eight  dollars  per  diem  for  the  additional 
services  performed  by  him  from  the  3d  day  of  December,  1855, 
to  the  4th  day  of  February,  1856.'  " 

"  The  previous  question  was  then  seconded,  and  the  main 
question  was  ordered  to  be  now  put. 

MR.  JONES,  of  Tennessee  (Dem.).  "I  object  to  that  resolu 
tion,  and  I  think  it  is  not  in  order  to  introduce  it." 

THE  SPEAKER.  "  The  Chair  understands  the  House  to  have 
ordered  the  main  question  to  be  put." 

"  The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  resolution,  and  it  was 
agreed  to." 

I  will  be  pardoned  for  quoting  the  personal  resolutions  which 
closed  this  extraordinary  struggle,  because  they  develop  the 
characteristics  of  the  leaders  of  opposing  parties,  and  also  be 
cause  they  show  how  even  ordinary  integrity  and  decision  are 
certain  of  ultimate  compensation.  General  Banks  has  just  been 
defeated  for  Congress  in  Massachusetts,  after  a  long  career, 
but  I  can  not  forget  the  manner  in  which  he  pronounced  his 
inaugural  address  as  Speaker  of  the  House  sixteen  years  ago. 


382  ANECDOTES  OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

His  deportment  during  the  succeeding  session,  his  impartiality, 
his  courtesy,  and  his  uniform  integrity,  proved- him  to  be  an 
unrivaled  statesman,  and  I  am  not  without  hope  that  we  shall 
hear  of  him  honorably  in  the  future.  Quitman,  Barksdale,  Rust, 
Keitt,  Eustis,  and  other  Southern  fire-eaters  have  gone  to  their 
last  account.  They  were  men  of  varied  and  distinguished  abil 
ities,  and  yet  not  one  of  them,  if  he  could  speak  from  his  grave, 
but  would  say  that  Nathaniel  P.  Banks  was  a  just  and  honest 
presiding  officer. 

[November  10,  1872.] 


LXXXVII. 

WASHINGTON  CITY  has  been  a  vast  newspaper  sepulchre.  It 
has  witnessed  the  rise  and  fall  of  more  dailies  and  weeklies 
than  any  other  city  of  equal  size  and  pretensions  in  the  world ; 
and  if  they  could  be  catalogued  and  accompanied  by  a  sketch 
of  the  hopes  that  tempted  and  the  disappointments  that  killed 
them,  a  very  interesting  morceau  would  be  added  to  the  curios 
ities  of  literature.  The  closing  of  the  Democratic  organ  at  the 
national  capital,  The  Patriot,  last  Monday,  revives  the  recollec 
tion  of  the  long  procession  that  have  passed  away.  The  Patriot 
was  conducted  with  signal  ability,  counting  in  its  corps  some 
of  the  best  talent  of  the  country,  including  W.  B.  Reed,  James 
E.  Harvey,  Henry  Adams,  and  the  finest  Democratic  minds  in 
Congress.  Undoubtedly  President  Grant's  re-election  hastened 
its  overthrow,  but  in  the  long  run,  at  least  in  these  later  days, 
a  national  Administration  can  not  of  itself  sustain  a  Washington 
newspaper.  It  must  have  a  specialty  of  its  own,  and  be  noted 
for  fine  writing  and  unusual  spirit  to  keep  it  afloat.  Dr.  Bay- 
ley's  weekly,  The  Era,  flourished,  and  for  a  while  most  profita 
bly,  chiefly  on  account  of  that  marvelous  romance,  "Uncle 


THE    PRESS    IN    WASHINGTON.  383 

Tom's  Cabin,"  Mrs.  Stowe's  great  work,  of  which  Mr.  Parton, 
in  one  of  his  "Topics  of  the  Times,"  speaks  so  justly  and  so 
graphically.  The  Daily  Chronicle,  which  I  established  in  1862, 
made  money  for  several  years  because  it  had  for  a  constituency 
a  reading  army.  But  we  did  not  know  our  advantages,  and 
were  never  prepared  for  the  hosts  who  clamored  for  it.  It  was 
no  uncommon  thing  for  us  to  print  thirty  thousand  a  day,  a  cir 
culation  that  could  have  been  trebled  if  we  had  possessed  the 
material  to  do  the  work.  But  few  persons  had  any  confidence, 
or,  indeed,  any  desire,  that  the  war  would  be  so  long  protracted. 
We  looked  for  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion  every  clay,  and  were 
not  surprised,  after  the  troops  had  gone  home,  and  the  camps 
were  broken  up,  and  the  hospitals  turned  into  school-houses 
and  dwellings,  at  the  vast  difference  in  our  income.  But  what 
a  change  the  war  has  made  in  the  Washington  newspapers. 
The  Sunday  Chronicle,  which  was  the  first  of  its  class  ever  seen 
at  the  capital,  established  in  March,  of  1861,  gave  more  news 
and  telegrams  in  one  number  than  all  the  old-time  dailies  did, 
I  was  going  to  say,  in  a  week ;  and  now  there  are  no  less  than 
four  other  Sunday  journals.  Then  compare  The  Star,  Daily 
Chronicle,  and  Republican  with  the  old  Globe,  Union,  and  Intel 
ligencer.  I  know  all  about  the  two  eras,  for  I  worked  in  both. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  a  telegraphic  dispatch  or  regular  local 
department  was  a  rarity.  We  were  literally  drenched  with 
eternal  politics.  Our  editorials  were  all  about  the  party.  Our 
news  was  heavy,  and  our  ways  were  the  ways  of  leisure.  The 
world  moved  slow,  and  the  newspapers  were  slower.  We  gen 
erally  went  to  press  about  10  P.  M.,  and  our  matter  was  always 
early  in  hand.  Expenses  were  light,  except  the  salaries,  which 
were  always  liberal.  The  profits  of  the  proprietors,  especially 
if  they  happened  to  own  the  organs,  were  enormous,  large 
enough,  in  fact,  to  enable  these  same  proprietors  to  retire  upon 
handsome  fortunes.  The  last  was  Mr.  Buchanan's  champion, 
General  George  W.  Bowman,  the  well-known  editor  of  The  Bed- 


3§4  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

ford  (Pennsylvania)  Gazette,  now  living,  I  think,  in  Cumberland 
County,  in  that  State,  the  possessor  of  a  competency  earned  in 
Washington.  Organship  died  with  the  rebellion.  The  public 
printing  wholly  ceased  to  be  a  job  under  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  those 
who  came  to  make  newspapers  in  Washington  have  had  to  do 
it  by  hard  work,  by  heavy  outlays  for  news  and  telegraphs,  and 
by  a  constant  hand-to-hand  struggle  with  a  busy  competition. 
The  old  correspondents,  "  Potomac,"  "  The  Spy  in  Washing 
ton,"  "  Observer,"  of  The  Ledger ;  "  X,"  of  The  Baltimore  Sun  ; 
"  Independent,"  of  The  North  American ;  and  later  than  these, 
"Occasional,"  of  The  Press,  gave  way  to  the  new  guild,  the 
alerts  of  Fourteenth  Street,  with  their  ravenous  pens,  their  in 
satiate  greed  for  news,  their  sparkling  repartees,  their  genius, 
wit,  and  dash.  Supplementing  these  came  the  modern  plan  of 
"  interviewing,"  which  no  public  man,  if  he  values  his  soul,  can 
shirk  without  ridicule.  Following  this  new  fashion  came  the 
fluttering  swarm  of  lady  correspondents,  with  their  delicious 
gossip,  their  bright  sentences,  their  pictures  of  great  people, 
and  their  unequaled  photographs  of  receptions  and  parties. 
Only  Annie  Royall  represented  the  gentler  sex  thirty  years  ago, 
and  she  had  the  ill-luck  to  be  a  terror  rather  than  a  temptation, 
for  she  wore  a  man's  hat  and  carried  an  umbrella  as  large  as 
that  of  '•  Paul  Pry." 

Yet,  with  all  these  advantages  over  the  past,  few  fortunes  are 
made  by  the  hard-working  men  in  the  business  of  journalism  in 
Washington,  excepting,  perhaps.  The  Evening  Star,  the  popular 
publication  of  the  city,  with  its  large  circulation  and  its  com 
paratively  small  force  of  writers.  And  I  perceive  that  The  Star 
is  being  steadily  pushed  by  a  new  rival,  called  The  Daily  Critic, 
which  has  achieved  an  immense  circulation  almost  without  cost. 
The  expense  is  too  heavy,  and  the  reading  public  too  limited. 
Government  advertising,  however  liberal,  is  not  sufficient. 
There  must  be  a  community  of  producers,  and  Washington  is 
still  a  city  of  consumers,  men  and  women  in  the  Departments, 


WILLIAM    M.  MEREDITH.  385 

who  get  their  daily  literature  gratis,  and  devour  it  in  the  easy 
intervals  of  their  routine  work.  When  factories  become  as  fre 
quent  as  fashionables,  and  when  commerce  is  as  active  as  pol 
itics,  and  when  the  nation's  capital  is  belted  by  brilliant  country 
towns  like  Chester,  Norristown,  Germantown,  Media,  West 
Chester,  Manayunk,  Frankford,  and  Camden  (New  Jersey), 
near  old  Philadelphia,  a  daily  newspaper  will  be  a  pleasing  and 
profitable  investment. 

[November  17, 1872.] 


LXXXVIII. 

FROM  his  high  place  as  President  of  the  new  Convention  to 
reform  the  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  William  M.  Meredith 
can  overlook  the  eventful  past,  in  which  for  half  a  century  he 
has  been  a  commanding  figure.  As  he  aids  to  smooth  the 
path  of  the  future  he  will  be  largely  aided  by  the  light  of  his 
long  experience.  Mr.  Meredith  is  now  in  his  seventy-fourth 
year.  He  has,  therefore,  reached  the  philosophic  age,  and  like 
the  traveler  who,  at  the  close  of  a  protracted  journey,  reaches 
the  crest  of  a  mountain,  and  surveys  all  he  has  seen,  he  may 
rest  in  supreme  content  upon  the  retrospect.  In  the  very  hall 
in  which  Mr.  Meredith  now  presides,  he  was,  thirty-five  years 
ago,  a  member  of  a  similar  convention  from  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia.  He  was  then  about  thirty-seven,  one  of  the  youngest 
of  the  delegates,  and  also  one  of  the  most  distinguished.  The 
stately  character  of  his  ripened  age  is  the  fulfillment  of  his  early 
manhood.  None  of  the  old  men  of  the  Convention  of  1837 
surpassed  Mr.  Meredith  in  mental  gifts  and  solid  judgment,  and 
there  were  some  far  advanced  in  the  vale  of  years  at  that  time. 
Thaddeus  Stevens  was  a  delegate  from  the  County  of  Adams, 
and  was  in  his  forty-fourth  year.  Ritner  was  Governor  of  Penn- 

R 


ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

sylvania,  and  Stevens  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  anti- 
Masonic  party — in  fact,  the  controller  of  the  State  administra 
tion.  John  Sergeant,  of  Philadelphia,  was  president  of  the 
convention,  the  beau  ideal  of  a  gentleman,  jurist,  and  citizen.  I 
can  recall  him,  when,  as  a  boy,  I  sat  in  the  galleries  and  watch 
ed  his  courteous  manners  and  impartial  rulings.  Of  medium 
height,  there  was  that  in  his  sad  and  saturnine  face,  in  the 
glance  of  his  eye,  and  the  tones  of  his  voice,  which  gave  un 
speakable  dignity  to  the  Chair.  Parties  were  in  no  pleas 
ant  mood.  No  such  era  of  good  feeling  pervaded  the  peo 
ple  as  at  the  present  day,  when  other  delegates  are  called  to 
amend  our  fundamental  law,  surrounded  by  every  inducement 
to  avoid  a  prejudiced  and  partial  course.  The  Democrats  had 
lost  the  State  by  the  Wolf  and  Muhlenberg  quarrel  in  1835-36, 
and  were  rapidly  reuniting  to  regain  it  in  1838.  Mr.  Stevens 
carried  things  with  a  high  hand.  He  boldly  wielded  the  pat 
ronage  of  the  State  administration  to  strengthen  Governor  Rit- 
ner;  he  attacked  the  Masonic  Order,  and  had  some  of  the  most 
eminent  of  its  members  summoned  before  his  Committee  of  In 
vestigation.  He  assumed  the  leadership  of  his  party  in  the 
Reform  Convention.  Yet  in  despite  of  his  dogmatism  there 
was  an  indescribable  charm  about  Thaddeus  Stevens.  If  he 
was  a  violent  partisan,  he  was  a  generous  friend  and  a  chival- 
ric  foe.  If  he  struck  hard  with  his  clenched  hand,  he  gave  and 
forgave  freely  with  his  open  one ;  and  though  often  intolerant 
and  illogical  in  his  war  upon  secret  societies — as  he  afterward 
proved  in  1854,  when  he  joined  the  Know-Nothings — his  splen 
did  championship  of  universal  education  and  his  support  of 
universal  emancipation,  made  men  forget  his  sharp  sayings,  and 
compelled  admiration  if  they  did  not  arouse  affection. 

Young  Meredith  was  not  disposed  to  follow  the  imperious 
New-Englander,  and  there  was  an  early  conflict  between  them. 
The  attack  upon  the  Masons  was  particularly  distasteful  to 
Meredith,  and  he  revolted  from  the  attempt  to  introduce  politics 


REPLY   TO   THADDEUS   STEVENS.  387 

into  the  convention.  At  last  the  storm  broke.  On  the  5th  of 
June,  1837,  Mr.  Meredith  paid  his  respects  to  Mr.  Stevens  in  a 
remarkable  speech,  of  which  the  following  is  a  specimen  : 

"  Mr.  President,  when  the  home  of  my  birth  and  affections 
was  causelessly  assailed,  I  defended  her.  What  man  would 
have  done  less?  I  defended  her  with  warmth.  Who  would 
have  wished  me  to  do  it  coldly  ?  It  is  said  that  I  used  strong 
language,  and  yet,  sir,  I  used  the  feeblest  of  all  the  words  that 
were  rushing  from  my  heart  to  my  lips.  This  is  the  very  head 
of  my  offense.  For  this  I  am  thrown,  like  a  captive  Christian, 
naked  into  the  arena,  where  the  Great  Unchained  of  Adams  is 
baying  at  my  throat,  while  my  vulpine  friend  from  Franklin  eats 
smoothly  into  my  vitals ;  and,  like  the  Spartan  fool,  I  hug  him 
to  my  bosom.  Alas,  sir !  what  a  spectacle  do  we  here  exhibit ! 
What  monuments  of  weakness  are  we  leaving  for  posterity ! 
How  far  is  our  position  below  the  true  and  just  standard  of  a 
body  charged  with  functions  such  as  these  we  are  appointed  to 
fulfill.  In  all  the  other  States  discussions  on  the  framing  of 
their  constitutions  have  been  temperate  and  deliberate.  Even 
the  hot-blooded  South  can  consider  its  organic  laws  calmly, 
coolly,  and  dispassionately.  Here  alone,  here  in  Pennsylvania, 
we  seem  resolved  to  prove  to  the  world  that  if  we  can  not  deter 
mine  every  thing  according  to  the  dictates  of  absolute  wisdom, 
we  can  at  least  debate  with  indecent  heat,  and  degrade  the  as 
sembled  majesty  of  the  people  by  party  strife  and  personal  bit 
terness.  In  all  that  I  have  said,  sir,  I  have  been  actuated  by 
a  desire  Merely  to  discharge  my  duty  by  defending  my  constit 
uents  and  myself.  I  entertain  no  hostility  to  the  gentleman 
from  Adams.  Indeed,  why  should  I?  On  the  contrary,  no 
man  admires  more  than  I  do  his  great  abilities.  I  avow  that 
he  displays  talents  which,  within  their  proper  sphere,  are,  in  my 
experience,  unsurpassed,  if  not  unrivaled.  In  party  tactics  and 
small  manoeuvres  I  have  never  seen  his  equal,  and  do  not  ex 
pect  to  meet  his  superior.  Who  can  forget  the  mingled  sar- 


ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

casm,  eloquence,  and  pathos  of  his  harangue  on  the  assistant 
doorkeeper  ?  Or  who  was  not  delighted  with  the  precision,  ac 
curacy,  and  effect  of  our  evolutions  under  his  drill  through  the 
election  of  officers  ?  The  gentleman  is  an  honor  to  his  halberd. 
How  close  was  his  formation  of  our  column  !  How  rapidly  did 
he  deploy  us  into  line  !  How  skillfully  was  our  front  dressed  ! 
How  rigorously  were  the  deserters  shot !  Never  did  a  more 
accomplished  orderly  report  a  company  <  formed '  on  a  parade 
ground.  It  is  very  true,  I  fear,  that  while  he  was  putting  us 
through  the  manual  exercise  in  the  court-yard,  the  enemy  were 
climbing  in  at  the  back  windows,  for  I  observe  that  we  have  six 
secretaries,  whereas  I  do  not  remember  to  have  voted  for  more 
than  two.  However,  this  is  but  the  fortune  of  war,  and  detracts 
nothing  from  his  merit.  Has  he  not  glory  enough  ?  The  gen 
tleman  has  other  duties  to  perform.  To  him  it  belongs  to  su 
perintend  the  executive  administration.  The  Masons,  we  know, 
are  ordered  for  punishment,  and  when  the  day  arrives  when  they 
are  to  be  had  up  at  the  triangle,  we  shall  doubtless  see  him  in 
the  fervent  fulfillment  of  his  employment,  with  his  ready  instru 
ment  well  prepared,  and  we  shall  hear 

'  The  long  resounding  line  and  frequent  lash.' 

"  Do  not  all  these  occupations  furnish  sufficient  scope  for  the 
ambition  or  activity  of  the  gentleman's  character  ?  Why  will 
he  grasp  at  more  ?  What  has  he  to  do  with  the  basis  of  repre 
sentation  ?  Within  the  limits  of  his  appropriate  functions,  he 
commands  from  us  a  respect  not  unmingled  with  a  certain  awe. 
But  instead  of  confining  himself  within  those  limits,  fie  seems 
occasionally  to  run  beyond  himself,  mistakes  his  yellow  cotton 
shoulder-knots  for  golden  epaulettes,  and  his  halberd  for  a  lead 
ing-staff,  mounts  a  ragged  hobby,  and  when  we  are  perhaps  in 
the  midst  of  an  important  affair,  in  the  face  and  under  the  fire 
of  the  enemy,  down  gallops  our  mad  sergeant  along  the  line, 
and  insists  on  our  suspending  all  other  operations  that  we  may 
be  instantly  put  through  some  unknown  post,  or  some  new 


MEN   OF   THE   REVOLUTION.  389 

movement  to  the  shoulder  of  his  own  devising,  and  which  none 
of  us  ever  heard  of  before.  And  then,  upon  the  least  demur  at 
compliance  with  his  odd  demands,  he  rides  furiously  into  our 
ranks,  breaking  his  halberd  over  the  head  of  one,  lending  a 
horse's  kick  to  another,  covering  a  third  from  head  to  foot  with 
mud,  throwing  our  battalion  into  inextricable  confusion,  and 
exposing  us  to  inevitable  defeat.  And  all  these  misfortunes  are 
to  be  suffered  because  one  gentleman  has  not  learned  to  dis 
criminate  between  yellow  cotton  and  gold  lace !  No,  sir !  they 
can  not  be  much  longer  suffered.  We  would  not  touch  a  hair 
of  our  eccentric's  head,  nor  even  of  the  tail  of  his  hobby.  At 
present  I  merely  beg  to  remonstrate  kindly  and  gently  with 
him,  as  I  have  been  doing,  against  his  persistence  in  these  lu 
dicrous  yet  injurious  assaults  upon  those  who,  however  feebly 
and  humbly,  are  endeavoring  to  discharge  their  duty." 

The  rejoinder  of  Mr.  Stevens  was  very  severe  and  even  per 
sonal.  Reading  it  over,  now  when  the  Great  Commoner  is  in 
his  grave,  it  seems  a  loud  report  over  a  very  small  matter,  and 
stands  in  curious  contrast  with  his  immortal  utterances  in  the 
great  struggle  for  the  life  and  liberty  of  a  nation.  The  protest 
of  Mr.  Meredith  against  party  politics  in  a  Constitutional  Con 
vention  is  more  pertinent,  and  may  be  profitably  studied  by  the 
delegates  to  the  body  now  in  session. 

[November  28, 1872.] 


LXXXIX. 

WE  shall  have  many  interesting  historical  developments  dur 
ing  our  preparations  for  the  great  Centennial.  The  men  and 
measures  of  the  Revolution  will  reappear  in  a  new  light,  and 
the  contrast  between  the  past  and  present  will  be  drawn  in  ra 
diant  colors.  In  reading  over  a  few  of  the  periodicals  of  the 


39°  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

last  quarter  of  the  last  century  I  found  some  incidents  and 
passages  in  the  lives  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Franklin, 
that  may  have  been  forgotten  by  the  very  old  and  have  cer 
tainly  never  been  read  by  the  very  young.  One  of  these  is 
the  following  original  letter  of  General  Washington  to  the  dis 
tinguished  Matthew  Carey,  whose  no  less  distinguished  son, 
Henry  C.  Carey,  is  still  living  in  Philadelphia,  at  an  advanced 
age,  the  centre  of  a  circle  of  loving  friends: 

"MOUNT  VERNON,  July  21, 1788. 

"  SIR, — If  I  had  more  leisure  I  should  most  willingly  give  you  any  such 
communications  (that  might  be  within  my  reach)  as  would  serve  to  keep  up 
the  reputation  of  your  Museum.  At  present,  occupied  as  I  am  with  agricult 
ure  and  correspondence,  I  can  promise  little.  Perhaps  some  gentlemen 
connected  with  me  may  make  some  selections  from  my  repositories ;  and  I 
beg  you  will  be  persuaded  that  I  can  have  no  reluctance  to  permit  any  thing 
to  be  communicated  that  might  tend  to  establish  truth,  extend  knowledge,  excite 
virtiie,  and  promote  happines,s  among  mankind. 

"  With  best  wishes  for  success,  I  am,  sir,  your  most  ob't  h'ble  serv't, 

"Go.  WASHINGTON. 

"MR.  MATTHEW  CAREY,  Editor  of  the  American  Muscttm." 

Here  are  the  qualities  that  make  the  modern  philosopher  and 
journalist.  Matthew  Carey  was  anxious  to  preserve  for  poster 
ity  the  treasures  that  George  Washington  had  collected  in  his 
illustrious  career,  and  Washington  responds  gracefully  to  the 
request.  The  closing  sentence  in  italics  is  Washington's  ideal 
of  the  creed  of  a  patriot,  and  a  fine  index  of  his  own  character. 
Jefferson's  tribute  to  Washington  is  very  beautiful : 

"  I  own,"  he  says, "  I  regard  it,  though  but  a  single  view  of 
the  character  of  Washington,  as  one  of  transcendent  impor 
tance,  that  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  found  him  al 
ready  prepared  and  mature  for  the  work,  and  that  on  the  day 
which  his  commission  was  signed  by  John  Hancock — the  im 
mortal  seventeenth  of  June,  1775— a  day  on  which  Providence 
kept  an  even  balance  with  the  cause,  and  while  it  took  from  us 
a  Warren,  gave  us  a  Washington — he  was  just  as  consummate 


JEFFERSON'S  ESTIMATE  OF  ROYALTY.  391 

a  leader  for  peace  as  for  war,  as  when,  eight  years  after,  he  re 
signed  that  commission  at  Annapolis." 

But  he  did  not  hesitate  to  counsel  and  even  to  criticise  his 
chief,  as  the  following  will  show  : 

"PARIS,  May  2, 1788. 
"To  General  Washington: 

"  I  had  intended  to  have  written  a  word  to  your  Excellency  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  new  Constitution,  but  I  have  already  spun  out  my  letter  to  an 
immoderate  length.  I  will  just  observe,  therefore,  that,  according  to  my 
ideas,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  good  in  it.  There  are  two  things,  however, 
which  I  dislike  strongly  : 

"  First.  The  want  of  a  declaration  of  rights. 

"  I  am  in  hopes  the  opposition  in  Virginia  will  remedy  this,  and  produce 
such  a  declaration. 

" Second.  The  perpetual  re-eligibility  of  the  President. 

"  This,  I  fear,  will  make  that  an  office  for  life,  first,  and  then  hereditary. 
I  was  such  an  enemy  to  monarchies  before  I  came  to  Europe,  I  am  ten  thou 
sand  times  more  so  since  I  have  seen  what  they  are.  There  is  scarcely  an 
evil  known  in  these  countries  which  may  not  be  traced  to  their  king  as  its 
source ;  nor  a  good  which  is  not  derived  from  the  small  fibres  of  republican 
ism  existing  among  them.  I  can  further  say,  with  safety,  that  there  is  not  a 
crowned  head  in  Europe  whose  talents  or  merits  could  entitle  him  to  be 
elected  a  vestryman  by  the  people  of  any  parish  in  America !" 

What  a  picture  he  draws  of  the  European  sovereigns  in  1789 : 

"  I  often  amuse  myself  with  contemplating  the  characters  of  the  then  reign 
ing  sovereigns  of  Europe.  Louis  XVI.  was  a  fool,  of  my  own  knowledge, 
and  in  despite  of  the  answers  made  for  him  at  his  trial.  The  King  of  Spain 
was  a  fool,  he  of  Naples  the  same.  They  passed  their  lives  in  hunting,  and 
dispatched  two  couriers  a  week  one  thousand  miles  to  let  each  other  know 
what  game  they  had  killed  the  preceding  days.  The  King  of  Sardinia  was 
a  fool.  All  these  were  Bourbons.  The  Queen  of  Portugal,  a  Braganza,  was 
an  idiot  by  nature,  and  so  was  the  King  of  Denmark.  Their  sons,  as  re 
gents,  exercised  the  powers  of  government.  The  King  of  Prussia,  successor 
to  the  great  Frederick,  was  a  mere  hog  in  body  as  well  as  in  mind.  Gus- 
tavus,  of  Sweden,  and  Joseph,  of  Austria,  were  really  crazy,  and  George,  of 
England,  you  know  was  in  a  straight  waistcoat.  There  remained,  then,  none 
but  old  Catharine,  who  had  been  too  lately  picked  up  to  have  lost  her  com 
mon-sense.  In  this  state  Bonaparte  found  Europe,  and  it  was  this  state  of 
its  rulers  which  lost  it  with  scarce  a  struggle." 


392  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Reluctant  to  undertake  a  puHic  tour  while  President,  he 
seems  to  have  had  pretty  much  the  notion  of  Washington,  in 
that  respect,  that  our  people  have  of  Grant : 

"  WASHINGTON,  June  19, 1807. 
"  To  Governor  Sullivan : 

"  With  respect  to  the  tour  my  friends  to  the  North  have  proposed  that  I 
should  make  in  that  quarter,  I  have  not  made  up  my  final  opinion.  The 
course  of  life  which  General  Washington  had  run,  civil  and  military,  the 
services  he  had  rendered,  and  the  space  he  therefore  occupied  in  the  affec 
tions  of  his  fellow-citizens,  take  from  his  examples  the  weight  of  precedents 
for  others,  because  no  others  can  arrogate  to  themselves  the  claims  which 
he  had  on  the  public  homage." 

ON  CIVIL  SERVICE. 

"  WASHINGTON,  July  17, 1807. 

"  I  have  never  removed  a  man  merely  because  he  was  a  Federalist.  I 
have  never  wished  them  to  give  a  vote  at  an  election  but  according  to  their 
own  wishes.  But,  as  no  Government  could  discharge  its  duties  to  the  best 
advantage  of  its  citizens  if  its  agents  were  in  a  regular  course  of  thwarting 
instead  of  executing  all  its  measures,  and  were  employing  the  patronage  and 
influences  of  their  offices  against  the  Government  and  its  measures,  I  have 
only  requested  they  would  be  quiet,  and  they  should  be  safe." 

GLAD  TO  GET  RID  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY. 

"  WASHINGTON,  March  2, 1809. 
"  To  M.  Dupont  de  Nemours  : 

"  Never  did  a  prisoner,  released  from  chains,  feel  such  relief  as  I  shall  on 
shaking  off  the  shackles  of  power.  Nature  intended  me  for  the  tranquil 
pursuits  of  science,  by  rendering  them  my  supreme  delight;  but  the  enormi 
ties  of  the  times  in  which  I  have  lived  have  forced  me  to  take  a  part  in  re 
sisting  them,  and  to  commit  myself  on  the  boisterous  ocean  of  political  pas 
sions." 

In  his  Memoirs  he  often  sketches  his  associates  and  con 
temporaries.  John  Adams  is  "  vain  and  irritable,"  but  as  "  dis 
interested  as  the  being  who  made  him."  Pendleton,  of  Vir 
ginia,  "  the  ablest  man  in  debate  I  have  ever  met,"  "  without 
the  poetic  fancy  of  Mr.  Patrick  Henry,  his  sublime  imagination, 
or  his  lofty  and  overwhelming  diction."  He  was  in  love  with 
lames  Madison,  "who  never  wandered  from  his  subject  into 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN.  393 

vain  declamation,  but  pursuing  it  closely  in  language  pure,  clas- 
sical,  and  copious,  soothing  always  the  feelings  of  his  adver 
saries  by  civility  and  softness  of  expression,  he  rose  to  the  em 
inent  station  which  he  held  in  the  great  National  Convention 
of  1787."  George  Wythe,  also  of  Virginia,  "was  a  man  of  the 
first  order  of  wisdom  among  those  who  acted  on  the  theatre  of 
the  Revolution."  "  Lafayette  is  a  most  valuable  auxiliary  to 
me,"  Jefferson  writes  from  Paris ;  "  he  has  a  great  deal  of 
sound  genius,  is  well  remarked  by  the  king,  and  rising  in  popu 
larity." 

But  no  character  shines  with  a  purer  lustre  than  that  of  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,  who,  besides  being  a  natural  philosopher,  was 
also  a  politician  and  a  statesman.  Jefferson  writes  about  him 
from  Paris,  September  n,  1785,  as  follows  :  ;- 

"  At  a  large  table  where  I  dined  the  other  day,  a  gentleman 
from  Switzerland  expressed  his  apprehensions  for  the  fate  of 
Dr.  Franklin,  as  he  said  he  had  been  informed  that  he  would 
be  received  with  stones  by  the  people,  who  were  generally  dis 
satisfied  with  the  Revolution,  and  incensed  against  all  those 
who  had  assisted  in  bringing  it  about.  I  told  him  his  appre 
hensions  were  just,  and  that  the  people  of  America  would  prob 
ably  salute  Dr.  Franklin  with  the  same  stones  that  they  had 
thrown  at  the  Marquis  Lafayette" 

Could  I  better  conclude  this  letter  of  reminiscences  than  by 
the  following  extract  from  Franklin's  reply  to  Lord  Howe,  com 
mander  of  the  British  forces,  dated  Philadelphia,  July  30, 1776  ? 

"  It  is  impossible  we  should  think  of  submission  to  a  govern 
ment  that  has,  with  the  most  wanton  barbarity  and  cruelty, 
burned  our  defenseless  towns  in  the  midst  of  winter,  excited  the 
savages  to  massacre  our  peaceful  farmers,  and  set  our  slaves 
to  murder  their  masters ;  and  is  even  now  sending  foreign  mer 
cenaries  to  deluge  our  country  with  blood.  These  atrocious 
injuries  have  extinguished  every  spark  of  affection  for  that 
parent-country  we  once  held  so  dear;  but,  were  it  possible  for 

R  2 


394  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

us  to  forget  and  forgive  them,  it  is  not  possible  for  you,  I  mean 
the  British  nation,  to  forgive  the  people  you  have  so  heavily 
injured." 

[December  i,  1872.] 


xc. 

WHAT  a  delicious  volume  that  famous  man  of  the  world,  Sam 
Ward,  who  is  every  body's  friend,  from  black  John  who  drives 
his  hack  to  the  jolly  Senator  who  eats  his  dinners  and  drinks 
his  wine — from  the  lady  who  accepts  his  bouquet  to  the  prat 
tling  child  who  hungers  for  his  French  candies — what  a  jewel 
of  a  book  he  could  make  of  the  good  things  he  has  heard  at  his 
thousand  "  noctes  ambrosianas  !"  He  is  again  domesticated  at 
John  Welcker's,  in  Washington  City,  where,  during  the  session, 
he  will  preside  like  a  very  prince  of  good  fellows,  attending  to 
business  and  pleasure  at  the  same  time.  Such  men  are  treas 
ures  in  many  ways.  They  live  to  make  themselves  and  others 
happy.  They  have  seen  so  much  of  the  world  that  they  have 
ceased  to  quarrel  with  other  men's  ideas.  They  have  lost  their 
reverence  for  mere  names,  but  not  their  love  for  genuine  great 
ness.  True  cosmopolites,  they  are  every  where  at  home.  Eager 
to  know  all  that  is  going  on,  they  will  give  you  in  return  for 
your  news  or  jokes  hours  full  of  gossip  and  stories.  They  know 
every  body  if  every  body  does  not  know  them,  and,  as  they  are 
always  well-bred  gentlemen,  they  never  descend  to  vulgarity  or 
slang.  To  sit  at  Ward's  table,  to  see  him  manage  a  dinner, 
and  to  hear  him  call  out  his  guests,  not  to  speak  of  his  master 
ship  of  the  cuisine,  including  his  science  in  wines,  is  to  enjoy 
something  more  than  the  delicacies  he  spreads  before  you.  He 
would  have  made  a  capital  companion  for  Sheridan  or  Tom 
Moore,  and  doubtless  spent  many  a  joyous  night  with  James  T. 


SAM   WARD.  395 

Brady  and  John  T.  Sullivan.  I  heard  him  relate  how  he  helped 
a  friend  with  the  present  Emperor  of  Brazil,  a  few  days  ago, 
and  I  question  if  ever  Lever  wrote  a  more  amusing  incident. 
Sam  Ward  belongs  to  the  old  school,  though  he  is  full  of  the 
progress  of  the  new  era.  He  looks  very  like  the  late  David 
Paul  Brown,  dresses  with  equal  care  and  taste,  and  his  heart  is 
as  big  as  was  the  heart  of  that  good  man  and  grandiloquent 
orator. 

"  Once  on  a  time,"  many  years  ago,  I  saw  Webster,  Benton, 
John  M.  Clayton,  James  Buchanan,  Judge  Douglas,  and  William 
R.  King  at  dinner.  I  was  a  sort  of  David  Copperfield  among 
them — a  minnow  among  Tritons.  But  I  never  shall  forget  their 
conversation  and  their  humor.  Buchanan  was  a  capital  host. 
He  did  not  tell  a  good  story, but  he  enjoyed  one;  and  when 
Webster  was  roused  he  kept  a  table  in  a  roar.  And  "  Col 
onel  King,"  as  they  used  to  call  the  bachelor  Senator  from  Ala 
bama,  was  amusing  in  his  dry  way.  Douglas  was  almost  un 
rivaled.  His  repartee  was  a  flash,  and  his  courtesy  as  knightly 
as  if  he  had  been  born  in  the  best  society.  But  none  of  them 
could  surpass  Sam  Ward  either  in  giving  a  good  dinner  or  in 
seasoning  it  with  Attic  wit  and  Chesterfieldian  politeness. 

Rough  John  C.  Rives,  of  The  Globe,  was  a  different  character. 
His  anecdotes  always  had  a  special  flavor,  and  never  a  sting. 
One  day,  when  Douglas  and  a  few  of  us  were  standing  in  "  the 
Hole  in  the  Wall,"  a  celebrated  resort  for  Senators  and  mem 
bers,  Rives  came  in  and  joined  us.  It  was  in  1854,  just  after 
Douglas  had  introduced  his  bill  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  Line.  Rives,  like  his  partner,  Francis  P.  Blair,  was  op 
posed  to  it,  and  made  no  hesitation  in  saying  so.  Douglas 
twitted  him  about  getting  out  of  the  party  lines,  and  tried  to 
convince  him  that  his  measure  was  right.  "I  don't  like  it, 
Douglas,  and  never  can  like  it.  It  is  uncalled  for.  It  reminds 
me  of  the  fellow  who,  having  gone  pretty  nearly  through  all  the 
follies  of  life,  took  it  into  his  head  to  hire  a  bully  to  do  his  fight- 


396  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

ing.  He  made  a  contract  with  the  stoutest  bruiser  he  could 
find,  and  they  started  on  their  journey  down  the  Mississippi. 
At  every  landing  the  quarrel  was  picked  by  the  one  and  the 
battle  fought  by  the  other.  It  was  tough  work  sometimes,  but 
rather  enjoyable.  At  last  they  reached  New  Orleans.  On  the 
levee  they  found  a  stout,  brawny  stevedore,  and,  after  some 
chaffing,  a  row  was  started,  and  the  two  began  to  pummel  each 
other.  They  were  well  matched,  but,  aided  by  his  experience, 
the  bully  beat  the  stevedore.  <  I  say,  boss,'  said  his  fighting 
man, '  I  give  up  this  job ;  you  is  too  much  for  me !  I  don't  see 
any  reason  in  that  ere  last  fight:  "  Of  course,  the  laugh  was 
against  Judge  Douglas,  and  none  relished  the  hit  more  than 
himself. 

But  perhaps  nobody  at  a  dinner-table  of  the  present  day  is 
so  welcome  as  James  W.  Nye,  Senator  from  Nevada.  I  wish  I 
could  congratulate  him  upon  his  certain  re-election,  though  Mr. 
Jones,  who  will  probably  succeed  him,  is  himself  a  character, 
and  will  make  his  mark.  Governor  Nye  will  always  be  a  noted 
personage.  His  memory  is  prodigious,  his  wit  electric.  A  face 
of  singular  fascination  and  a  manner  debonair,  in  his  Senatorial 
seat  he  recalls  the  best  ideals  of  the  past.  Social,  genial,  gen 
erous,  he  takes  possession  of  a  dinner-table  at  once.  His  mag 
netism  seems  to  pervade  the  whole  company,  and  when  he  tells 
a  story,  always  relating  to  some  incident  familiar  to  the  guests, 
and  illustrated  by  quaint  expressions,  with  a  bright  eye  and 
musical  voice,  the  gravest  must  bow  to  his  irresistible  influr 
ence.  He  dines  with  Sam  Ward  frequently,  when  it  will  be 
worth  much  to  be  present. 

[December  8, 1872.] 


HORACE   GREELEV.  397 


XCI. 

DEATH  is  busy  among  the  brave  and  the  gifted.  William 
Prescott  Smith,  George  Gordon  Meade,  Horace  Greeley,  have 
been  called  in  the  prime  of  life  and  usefulness.  They  faded 
suddenly  from  the  ranks  of  men ;  and  nothing  remains  save  the 
memory  of  the  exquisite  humor  and  kindness  of  the  one,  the 
modest  courage  of  the  other,  the  various  resources  and  cease 
less  benevolence  of  the  last.  But  none  of  the  many  that  have 
been  summoned  will  live  so  long  in  our  hearts,  not  even  William 
H.  Seward,  the  venerable  sage  who  led  the  way  full  of  honors 
and  of  years,  as  the  silver-haired  philosopher  of  the  New  York 
Tribune.  The  incidents  preceding  his  death,  the  manner  of  it, 
and  the  rare  events  that  followed  and  crowned  it,  will  supply 
material  fifty  years  hence  for  a  most  touching  drama.  In  one 
respect  the  tributes  to  his  memory  must  always  be  unequaled. 
I  mean  the  literary  laurels  laid  upon  his  grave  by  his  associates 
of  the  press.  The  eulogies  upon  Washington  and  Lincoln  were 
more  numerous,  perhaps,  but  they  were  not  so  original,  and  cer 
tainly  not  more  sincere.  Differing  from  the  worship  of  Lincoln, 
martyr  as  he  was,  what  was  said  of  Greeley  came  as  warm  from 
the  impulses  of  his  enemies  as  from  the  impulses  of  his  friends. 
To  employ  Mr.  Sumner's  splendid  figure  :  "  Parties  are  always 
for  the  living;  and  now,  standing  at  the  open  grave  of  Horace 
Greeley,  we  are  admonished  to  forget  the  strife  of  party,  and  to 
remember  only  truth,  country,  and  mankind,  to  which  his  honest 
life  was  devoted.  In  other  days  the  horse  and  armor  of  the  de 
parted  chieftain  have  been  buried  in  the  grave  where  he  re 
posed.  So,  too,  may  we  bury  the  animosities  if  not  the  badges 
of  the  past.  Then,  indeed,  will  there  be  victory  for  the  dead 
which  all  will  share."  Every  journalist  who  has  written,  and 
all  have  written,  has,  with  some  unforgotten  exceptions,  poured 
his  warmest  affections  into  the  sobbing  hearts  of  a  sympathizing 


398  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

people.  Each  has  done  his  best,  and  many  have  surpassed 
themselves.  There  has  been  an  intellectual  rivalry  among  these 
masters  of  the  pen.  Who  will  not  cherish  the  glorious  effusion 
of  the  New  York  World  on  Friday,  December  i,  1872,  the  fer 
vent  eulogy  of  the  New  York  Herald,  and  the  splendid  homage 
of  Theodore  Tilton  in  the  Golden  Age,  Sam  Bowles  in  the  Spring 
field  Republican,  William  Cassidy  in  the  Albany  Argus,  W.  F. 
Storey  in  the  Chicago  Times,  and  their  contemporaries,  North 
and  South,  East  and  West  ?  Preserved,  as  they  will  be,  in  one 
or  more  volumes,  they  will  be  a  monument  to  Horace  Greeley 
more  enduring  than  the  loftiest  column  of  bronze  or  marble, 
though  covered  with  bass-reliefs,  and  gorgeous  in  compliments 
carved  by  cunning  hands. 

The  last  time  I  saw  Mr.  Greeley  was  at  the  Continental  Hotel 
in  Philadelphia,  several  weeks  before  the  Cincinnati  Convention. 
The  interview  had  been  arranged  by  one  of  the  gentlemen  of 
The  Tribune  at  Mr.  Greeley's  request,  and  we  had  a  long  and 
confidential  talk.  I  am  quite  sure  he  did  not  then  entertain 
the  remotest  idea  of  his  nomination  against  General  Grant,  and 
though  he  was  earnest  in  expressing  the  belief  that  the  man 
could  be  found  to  defeat  Grant,  he  listened  patiently  to  my 
earnest  appeal  to  him.  I  told  him  that  both  of  us  owed  alle 
giance  to  the  Republican  mission,  that  General  Grant  deserved 
re-election,  that  there  was  not  the  slightest  prospect  of  defeat 
ing  his  renomination,  and  that  I  longed  to  see  the  great  Tribune 
in  the  lead  of  what  would  be  an  assured  victory.  He  was  un 
usually  genial  and  kind,  and  I  have  always  believed  that,  when 
we  parted,  he  was  carefully  reconsidering  his  course.  He  used 
no  harsh  words  in  speaking  of  the  President,  and  seemed  to  be 
animated  only  by  solicitude  for  the  country,  and  never  once  re 
ferred  to  himself  as  a  possible  Presidential  candidate. 

As  I  sat,  Wednesday,  December  4,  in  the  Church  of  the  Di 
vine  Paternity,  New  York  City,  and  noticed  the  multitude  of 
representative  men — Thurlow  Weed's  aged  form  ;  Chief  Justice 


GREELEVS    FUNERAL    RITES.  399 

Chase,  with  bare  and  bending  head ;  William  Evart's  spare  fig 
ure  and  mobile  face ;  General  Dix,  the  Governor  elect  of  New 
York — among  the  pall-bearers  ;  the  President,  his  secretaries, 
and  part  of  his  Cabinet;  the  crowds  of  editors  from  all  parts  of 
the  country — and  heard  the  sacred  music  and  the  magnificent 
discourse  of  Dr.  Chapin,  I  thought  of  the  death  and  burial  of 
the  great  Frenchman,  Mirabeau,  April,  1791.  Very  different 
were  the  two  men,  but  their  lives  were  equally  eventful  and 
their  last  hours  equally  dramatic.  Mirabeau  was  exhausted  by 
his  frequent  public  speaking.  Five  great  orations  in  one  day 
finished  him  ;  and  when  brought  to  his  final  hour,  he  exclaimed, 
"To-day  I  shall  die;  envelop  me  in  perfumes;  crown  me  with 
flowers,  and  surround  me  with  music,  so  that  I  may  deliver  my 
self  peaceably  to  sleep."  Our  poor  friend  did  not  call  for  odors 
or  roses  or  sweet  strains ;  they  came  from  the  spontaneous  love 
of  his  saddened  friends.  Like  America  with  him,  however, 
Mirabeau's  death  extinguished  all  the  envies  and  enmities  of 
the  French.  Party  feuds  dissolved  in  tears  over  his  body,  and 
he  passed  to  his  rest  through  an  avenue  of  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  former  foes.  Says  the  historian : 

"  The  proceedings  of  the  Assembly  were  immediately  sus 
pended,  a  general  mourning  ordered,  and  a  magnificent  funeral 
prepared.  '  We  will  all  attend  !'  exclaimed  the  whole  Assembly. 
In  the  Church  of  Saint  Genevieve  a  monument  was  erected  to 
his  memory,  with  the  inscription  : 

'A   GRATEFUL   COUNTRY   TO   GREAT   MEN.' 

"  It  was  situated  next  to  that  of  Descartes.  His  funeral  took 
place  the  day  after  his  death.  All  the  authorities,  the  depart 
ments,  the  municipalities,  the  popular  societies,  the  Assembly, 
and  the  army  accompanied  the  procession ;  and  this  orator  ob 
tained  more  honors  than  ever  had  been  conferred  on  the  pomp 
ous  funerals  which  proceeded  to  Saint  Denis.  Thus  terminated 
the  career  of  this  extraordinary  man,  who  has  been  greatly 


400  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

blamed,  who  effected  much  good  and  much  evil,  and  whose 
genius  was  equally  adapted  to  both.  Having  vanquished  the 
aristocracy,  he  turned  upon  those  who  contributed  to  his  vic 
tory,  arrested  their  course  by  his  eloquence,  and  commanded 
their  admiration  even  while  he  provoked  their  hostility." 

But  how  different  the  recollection  of  these  two  men !  Mira- 
beau  is  rarely  recalled,  and  only  as  an  impassioned  tribune — a 
man  of  sentiment  rather  than  of  action,  with  few  fixed  convic 
tions.  Greeley  will  live  as  a  marvelous  aggregate,  strong  in 
good  works,  his  fame  growing  riper  with  the  increasing  fruits  of 
his  gigantic  labors  for  humanity. 

[December  15, 1872.] 


XCII. 

I  AM  reading,  with  infinite  zest,  John  Forster's  second  volume 
of  the  Life  of  Charles  Dickens.  Every  page  is  a  new  pleasure, 
every  chapter  a  new  revelation  of  the  better  side  of  the  truest 
friend  of  humanity  in  the  literary  world.  Neither  Shakespeare, 
nor  Byron,  nor  Walter  Scott,  nor  Tom  Moore,  nor  Alfred  Ten 
nyson,  deigned  to  show  so  honest  a  devotion  to  the  poor  and  the 
unfortunate  as  Charles  Dickens.  He  always  seized  the  holi 
days,  and  especially  Christmas,  to  extend  his  warnings  to  the 
rich  and  his  encouragement  to  the  poor.  "  Blessings  on  your 
kind  heart,"  wrote  the  great  Jeffrey,  of  the  Edinburgh  Review, 
in  1842,  after  he  had  read  "  The  Christmas  Carol ; "  "  you  should 
be  happy  yourself,  for  you  may  be  sure  you  have  done  more 
good  by  this  little  publication,  fostered  more  kindly  feelings, 
and  prompted  more  positive  acts  of  beneficence  than  can  be 
traced  to  all  the  pulpits  and  confessionals  in  Christendom." 
"  Who  can  listen,"  exclaimed  Thackeray,  "  to  objections  regard 
ing  such  a  book  as  this?  It  seems  to  me  a  national  benefit, 


CHARLES   DICKENS.  40 1 

and  to  every  man  or  woman  who  reads  it  a  personal  kindness." 
"  It  told,"  says  Forster,  his  biographer,  "  the  selfish  man  to  rid 
himself  of  his  selfishness  ;  the  just  man  to  make  himself  gen 
erous  j  the  good-natured  man  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  his  good 
nature.  Dickens  had  identified  himself  with  Christmas  fancies. 
Its  life  and  spirit,  its  humor  in  riotous  abundance,  of  right  be 
longed  to  him.  Its  imaginations,  as  well  as  kindly  thoughts, 
were  his ;  and  its  privilege  to  light  up  with  some  sort  of  com 
fort  the  squalidest  places  he  had  made  his  own."  "With  brave 
and  strong  restraints,  what  is  evil  in  ourselves  was  to  be  sub 
dued  ;  with  warm  and  gentle  sympathies,  what  is  bad  or  unre 
claimed  in  others  was  to  be  redeemed.  The  Beauty  was  to 
embrace  the  Beast,  as  in  the  divinest  of  all  those  fables ;  the 
star  was  to  rise  out  of  the  ashes,  as  in  our  much-loved  Cinder 
ella  ;  and  we  were  to  play  the  Valentine  with  our  wilder  broth 
ers,  and  bring  them  back  with  brotherly  care  to  civilization  and 
happiness." 

After  the  "  Christmas  Carol "  came  "  The  Chimes,"  for  the 
holidays,  in  1844.  This  beautiful  story  was  written  in  Genoa, 
Italy.  The  argument  here,  as  in  the  first,  was  to  induce  the 
rich  to  help  the  poor,  and  the  poor  to  forget  their  miseries.  It 
is  curious  how  he  found  the  title  of  "The  Chimes."  He  had 
the  subject,  but  not  the  name  of  his  book,  in  his  mind,  and, 
says  Forster,  "  sitting  down,  one  morning,  resolute  for  work, 
such  a  peal  of  '  chimes '  arose  from  the  city  as  he  found  to  be 
maddening.  All  Genoa  lay  beneath  him,  and  up  from  it,  with 
some  gust  of  wind,  came  in  one  fell  sound,  the  clang  and  clash 
of  all  its  steeples,  pouring  into  his  ears,  again  and  again,  in  a 
tuneless,  grating,  discordant,  jerking,  hideous  vibration,  that 
made  his  ideas  spin  round  and  round  till  they  lost  themselves 
in  a  whirl  of  vexation  and  giddiness."  "  Only  two  days  later 
came  a  letter,  in  which  not  a  single  syllable  was  written  but 
'We  have  heard  "The  Chimes"  at  midnight,  Master  Shallow;' 
then  I  knew  he  had  discovered  what  he  wanted."  His  one 


4°2  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

great  k.ea  was  always  that  the  poor  should  be  led  out  of  their 
poverty  ;  the  vicious  out  of  their  vices  ;  the  unfortunate  out  of 
their  misfortunes,  and  that  Christmas  was  the  season  to  enforce 
the  moral.  In  Venice  he  said,  "  Ah !  when  I  saw  those  pal 
aces,  how  I  thought  that  to  leave  one's  hand  upon  the  time, 
lastingly  upon  the  time,  with  one  tender  touch  for  the  mass  of 
toiling  people  that  nothing  could  obliterate,  would  be  to  lift 
one's  self  above  the  dust  of  all  the  Doges  in  their  graves,  and 
stand  upon  the  giant's  staircase  that  Samson  could  not  over 
throw." 

In  1845  he  conceived  that  splendid  Christmas  ideal,  "The 
Cricket  on  the  Hearth."  When  he  was  deliberating  it  he  wrote 
to  Forster  that  his  new  story  should  contain  "Carol philosophy, 
cheerful  views,  sharp  anatomization  of  humbug,  jolly  good  tem 
per,  and  a  view  of  glowing,  hearty,  generous,  mirthful,  beaming 
reference  in  every  thing  to  home  and  fireside  ;  and  I  would  call 
it,  sir,  'The  Cricket;  a  Cheerful  Creature  that  Chirrups  on  the 
Hearth ' — natural  history."  "It  would  be  a  delicate  and  beau 
tiful  fancy  for  a  Christmas  book,  making  the  cricket  a  little 
household  god — silent  in  the  wrong  and  sorrow  of  the  tale,  and 
loud  again  when  all  went  well  and  happy."  Those  of  us  who 
recollect  the  wonderful  charm  of  the  "  Cricket  on  the  Hearth," 
with  its  weird  and  simple  characters,  will  not  need  to  be  told 
by  Forster  that  "  its  sale  at  the  outset  doubled  that  of  all  its 
predecessors." 

Christmas  always  inspired  him.  The  holidays  were  his  sea 
son  of  joyful  thoughts  and  magnetic  writing.  And  now,  as  we 
recall  him  in  the  glowing  pages  of  his  confidential  biographer, 
why  should  not  we  remember  those  who  are  so  well  and  grate 
fully  remembered  during  this  immortal  interval — the  parenthe 
sis,  so  to  speak,  between  the  old  year  and  the  new — the  pleas 
ant  porch  in  which  we  take  leave  of  the  one  and  enter  upon  the 
other  ?  A  benefactor  of  his  species,  like  William  W.  Corcoran, 
of  Washington,  D.  C.,  fortunate  in  his  active  life,  and  still  more 


PRACTICAL    BENEVOLENCE.  403 

fortunate  in  its  closing  days,  because  encompassed  by  the  prayers 
of  those  he  has  aided  by  his  liberality,  and  by  the  respect  and 
honor  of  the  great  District  he  has  beautified  by  his  princely  en 
dowments — such  a  man  ought  to  spend  a  most  comfortable  Christ 
mas  ;  and  George  W.  Childs,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  royal  boun 
ties  all  the  year  round  have  so  touching  a  crown  in  his  holiday  gifts 
to  the  needy,  as  if  to  show  he  does  not  forget  how  he  broke  the 
prison  bars  of  poverty  and  escaped  the  "twin  jailors  of  the  daring 
heart;"  and  Jay  Cooke,  with  his  great  heart  full  of  the  warm 
est  impulses,  and  eager  to  help  with  nninquiring  benevolence — 
the  patron  of  every  noble  art  and  the  helper  of  every  stricken 
wanderer ;  and  W.  C.  Rallston,  of  San  Francisco,  who,  also 
risen  from  the  ranks  of  toil,  recollects  that  he  should 

"Give,  as  'twas  given,  a  blessing  to  thee  ;" 
and, 

"  Gives,  as  'twas  given,  a  blessing  to  be ;" 

and  bright  Thomas  A.  Scott,  a  prototype  of  Rallston,  who  ever 
thinks  of  the  unfortunate  or  the  unlucky,  and  aids  with  equal 
modesty  and  profusion. 

Thanks  be  to  God  !  there  are  many  more  in  the  ranks  of  the 
living — more,  many  more,  who  prove  that  Humanity  has  yet 
earnest  ministers  in  a  world  too  often  abused  as  cold  and  cal 
lous.  Nor  let  us  forget  the  graves  of  those  who  toiled  to  be 
stow  their  wealth  upon  the  poor  and  the  needy.  There  is  an 
altar  in  Girard  College  where  the  orphans  can  spend  Christmas 
in  honor  of  the  great  Frenchman,  who  accumulated  millions  by 
hard  work  and  close  savings,  that  he  might  pour  them  down 
through  the  ages  upon  the  fatherless  and  the  motherless. 
There  are  palaces  in  London  and  colleges  in  the  South  where 
grateful  thousands  can  recall  every  Christmas-day  the  New- 
Englander  who  was  almost  a  miser  in  life,  that,  after  death,  he 
might  approve  himself  a  Midas  in  the  distribution  of  his  count 
less  treasures  for  Charity  and  Education.  And  presently  there 
will  rise  a  temple  to  Art  and  to  Benevolence,  on  the  loveliest 


4°4  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC    MEN. 

shore  of  the  Delaware,  in  which  the  name  of  Edwin  Forrest, 
never  so  honored  as  it  will  be  on  this  coming  Christmas,  will 
be  preserved  as  that  of  one  who  toiled  through  fifty  years  of 
successive  penury,  privation,  triumph,  envy,  and  admiration, 
that  he  might  die  the  best  friend  of  the  unfortunate  children  of 
the  English  and  American  stage. 

[December  22,  1872.] 


XCIII. 

JOSEPH  HARRISON,  JR.,  of  Philadelphia,  probably  the  richest 
man  in  that  city  to-day,  was  apprenticed  in  a  machine-shop 
when  he  was  fifteen.  He  was  foreman  in  the  same  establish 
ment  when  he  was  twenty,  and  at  twenty-seven  partner  in  one 
of  the  earliest  locomotive  manufactories  in  this  country.  Every 
life,  however  humble,  is  a  lesson — sometimes  an  example,  and 
sometimes  a  warning ;  but  a  lesson  always.  Joseph  Harrison's 
experience  is  an  example.  Born  in  1810,  and  now  in  his  sixty- 
third  year,  it  is  interesting  to  follow  his  career,  and  to  trace  the 
effect  of  foreign  travel,  careful  study,  and  business  ambition 
upon  a  mind  which  had  few  or  no  advantages  of  early  educa 
tion.  He  was  a  worker  in  iron,  and  proud  of  his  trade.  Per 
haps  the  words  he  used  at  a  public  dinner  to  Henry  C.  Carey, 
in  1859,  may  be  cited  as  the  ideal  of  his  mission  :  "That  glori 
ous  metal,  Iron,  must  ever  be  the  great  agent  for  promoting 
the  mechanic  arts.  Iron  is  the  true  precious  metal,  a  metal  so 
interwoven  with  the  wants  of  life,  and  with  our  very  enjoyments, 
that  to  do  without  it  would  be  to  relapse  into  barbarism.  Take 
away  gold  and  silver,  and  the  whole  range  of  baser  metals,  leav 
ing  us  iron,  and  we  would  hardly  miss  them.  Take  away  Iron, 
and  we  lose  what  is  next  to  life,  and  that  which  sustains  life, 
the  greatest  boon  the  Almighty  has  conferred  upon  man." 


JOSEPH    HARRISON.  405 

These  words  were  spoken  in  1859,  and  they  are  a  more  cor 
rect  picture  of  the  utilities  and  adaptations  of  iron  in  1872. 
Covering  most  of  the  necessities  of  life,  iron  has  become  one  of 
the  essentials  of  art  in  its  highest  aspirations  ;  entering  into  the 
luxuries  of  our  homes ;  into  the  triumphs  of  our  progress ;  in 
fact,  into  most  of  the  realms  of  science  and  imagination.  And 
yet  all  the  objects  to  which  it  may  be  applied  are  unknown. 
The  iron  production  and  development  are  in  their  infancy. 

Mr.  Harrison  spent  twelve  years  in  Russia,  building  iron 
roads,  locomotives,  and  bridges  for  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  and 
receiving,  with  his  partners,  the  costliest  presents  for  the  fidel 
ity  and  efficiency  of  their  work.  In  such  society  the  mind  of 
the  young  mechanic  rapidly  expanded.  He  saw  a  new  civiliza 
tion  and  entered  upon  a  broader  field.  Intercourse  with  men 
of  science  gave  him  a  deeper  insight  into  the  secrets  of  his  own 
trade,  and  opened  before  him  a  future  of  boundless  interest. 
He  studied,  not  alone  the  practical,  but  the  aesthetic  side  of  the 
subject.  He  saw  the  finest  specimens  of  art  in  the  galleries  of 
Europe,  read  the  best  books,  and  gathered  information  from  his 
conversations  with  learned  men,  and  when  he  came  back  to  his 
native  city  he  had  grown  in  experience  and  in  knowledge.  But 
he  had  not  forgotten  that  he  was  a  worker  in  iron.  He  had 
not  forgotten  his  humble  origin,  and  if  you  could  visit  his  mag 
nificent  mansion  in  Eighteenth  Street,  near  Walnut,  in  Phila 
delphia,  you  would  see  in  one  of  the  panels  in  his  gallery,  among 
some  of  the  finest  triumphs  of  art,  a  picture  called  the  "  Iron- 
Worker  and  King  Solomon,"  painted  in  1865  for  Mr.  Harrison 
by  the  celebrated  Christian  Schuessele.  The  object  is  to  show 
that  iron  is  the  chief  agent  in  all  the  mechanic  arts ;  and  a  He 
brew  legend  is  quoted,  setting  forth  that  when  Solomon's  Tem 
ple  was  about  to  be  opened,  the  blacksmith,  finding  himself 
omitted  from  the  list  of  invited  guests,  boldly  marched  into  the 
Temple,  fresh  from  the  forge,  and,  taking  the  King's  own  seat,  in 
sisted  that  without  him  the  splendid  fane  had  never  been  con- 


4°6  ANECDOTES   OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

structed.  King  Solomon  heard  the  appeal,  and  the  blacksmith 
sat  by  his  side  at  the  royal  feast.  And  in  a  beautiful  volume 
of  Mr.  Harrison's  writings,  printed  for  private  circulation,  we 
find  the  painting  described  in  a  very  excellent  poem,  from  his 
own  pen,  dedicated  to  his  "  dear  children  and  grandchildren," 
to  impress  upon  their  minds  the  value  of  what  is  too  frequently 
thought  to  be  very  humble  labor.  Following  the  other  pages 
we  find  this  idea  elaborately  presented  by  other  hands,  includ 
ing  addresses  by  Mr.  Harrison  on  art  and  science  before  our 
great  institutions,  and  a  proposition  for  the  erection  of  a  gal 
lery  of  art  in  Fairmount  Park,  which  is  to  be  adorned  by  several 
of  the  best  pictures  in  his  gallery,  presented  to  the  Park  Com- 
missioners.  There  is  also  a  series  of  careful  essays  on  his 
steam-boiler,  an  invention  to  prevent  destructive  explosions, 
even  when  carelessly  used.  The  variety  of  the  subjects  dis 
cussed  and  the  style  of  writing,  the  noble  aim  apparent  through 
out,  show  that  Joseph  Harrison's  life  has  been  a  useful  experi 
ence  to  himself,  and  a  lesson  and  example  to  others. 
[December  27, 1872.] 


XCIV. 

How  to  distribute  large  individual  wealth  is  one  of  the  prob- 
of  civilization.  Stephen  Girard  seems  to  have  solved  it, 
if  his  great  foundation,  "  The  Girard  College,"  is  tested  by  its 
marvelous  and  increasing  success.  Its  massive  and  harmonious 
proportions,  seen  from  afar,  do  not  more  recall  and  refresh  his 
memory  than  the  occasional  parades  of  the  orphans  through 
the  streets,  or  their  decorum,  subordination,  and  intelligence 
within  doors.  These  youth  make  little  noise  in  the  world,  but 
they  are  felt,  far  and  wide,  as  so  many  missionaries.  Their 
gratitude  to  their  benefactor  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  there 


GIRARD   COLLEGE.  407 

are  few  failures  among  them.  I  know  of  many  excellent  men 
who  have  found  the  dead  Frenchman  a  living  father,  and  whose 
ability,  integrity,  and  energy  are  the  fruit  of  the  seeds  he  plant 
ed.  He  survives  in  their  ever-renewing  gratitude ;  and  if  it 
were  necessary,  I  could  name  lawyers,  architects,  physicians, 
manufacturers,  bankers  of  eminence,  who  proudly  look  to  Gi- 
rard  College  as  their  Alma  Mater.  The  orphan  who  goes  in 
without  a  friend  emerges  with  hundreds,  and,  what  is  better 
than  all,  with  a  self-respect  that  makes  him  richer  than  if  he 
had  been  left  the  irresponsible  heir  of  a  fortune  he  could  not 
count.  The  crop  of  boys  is  systematically  replenished.  They 
enter  from  six  to  ten,  and  are  bound  out,  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  eighteen,  to  agriculture,  navigation,  arts,  mechan 
ical  trades,  or  manufactures.  No  stigma  attaches  to  their  pro 
bation,  and  the  name  of  Stephen  Girard  is  enshrined  among 
their  sweetest  memories. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  present  position  of  the  Girard  Col 
lege,  of  which  so  little  is  known  to  the  outside  world,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  say  that  at  the  last  annual  meeting  the  reported 
number  of  pupils  was  550!  What  a  sight  it  would  be  if  Girard 
himself  could  reappear  upon  the  scene  and  study  the  harvest 
of  his  superb  benevolence !  He  died  on  the  20th  of  December, 
1831,  in  Water  Street,  above  Market,  Philadelphia,  a  little  more 
than  forty  years  ago.  In  this  interval  Philadelphia  has  grown 
into  a  vast  metropolis,  the  nation  into  something  more  than 
an  empire,  and  the  world  revolutionized  by  the  agencies  of 
science ;  but  no  wonder  would  so  impress  him  as  his  own  Col 
lege  and  its  matchless  influence  upon  civilization.  He  would 
realize  that  his  behests  had  not  been  disobeyed,  and  that  his 
bounties  had  not  been  misspent.  He  at  least  sets  a  good  ex 
ample  to  other  men  of  opulence. 

I  wish  our  American  manufacturers  and  capitalists,  whose 
colossal  fortunes  are  no  less  the  outgrowth  of  the  industry  of 
their  workmen  than  of  their  own  opportunities,  could  see  the 


408  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

town  of  Halifax  (England),  seventy  miles  from  Liverpool,  and 
there  study  one  of  the  most  striking  manifestations  of  individual 
munificence  in  the  world  for  the  benefit  of  the  laboring  classes. 
Sir  Francis  Crossley,  lately  deceased,  lived  at  Halifax.     He 
died  leaving  an  immense  sum  for  the  use  of  his  worthy  opera 
tives.     He  had  no  higher  ambition  than  to  promote  the  comfort 
of  those  whose  toil  had  made  him  opulent.     More  than  a  thou 
sand  of  them  had  taken  advantage  of  his  proffer  and  became 
interested  in  his  business,  which  is  that  of  a  manufacturer  of 
magnificent  carpets.     His  establishment  is  the  largest  in  the 
world,  comprising  eighteen  and  a  half  acres,  using  two  thousand 
horse-power  in  its  steam  machinery,  giving  employment  to  over 
four  thousand  men,  women,  and  children.     His  patent  looms 
for  the  weaving  of  tapestry,  velvet,  and  Brussels  carpets,  table- 
covers,  and  hearth-rugs;  his  hand-looms  for  weaving  Scotch 
carpets;  his  facilities  for  preparing  and  weaving  linen,  cotton, 
and  woolen  carpets,  and  for  spinning,  dyeing,  and  printing,  are 
all  on  the  same  premises.     These  are  not  simply  curious  and 
wonderful  in  themselves,  but  impressive  evidences  of  human 
ingenuity  and  skill.     I  saw  the  thousands  dismissed  for  and  re 
turning  from  their  noon-day  meal,  and  can  never  forget  the 
sight,  especially  as  I  turned  to  the  beautiful  town  itself,  a  mini 
ature  metropolis,  with  long  rows  of  elegant  stores,  comfortable 
dwellings,  a  lordly  town -hall,  fine  hotel,  churches,  and  other 
public  buildings.     Every  where  you  remarked  evidences  of  the 
wise  generosity  of  Sir  Francis  Crossley  and  his  family ;  every 
where  you  saw  how  the  enormous  profits  resulting  from  their 
astonishing  enterprises  are  shared  with  the  industrious  and  the 
deserving.     The  beautiful  park  was  the  gift  of  the  Crossleys 
to  the  people.     The  massive  town-hall  was  built  out  of  their 
money,  and  an  Orphanage  for  the  education  of  the  fatherless 
children  of  their  more  emulous  workmen.     The  whole  air  of 
the  place,  with  its  clean,  stone-laid  streets,  the  broad,  level 
roads  in  the  environs,  the  well-dressed  population,  and  the  love- 


BIOGRAPHY.  409 

)y  valley  in  which  it  was  set  like  a  picture,  comes  back  to  me 
an  instructive  and  pleasing  memory.  And  when  we  reflect 
upon  the  incomes  of  many  of  our  American  manufacturers  and 
capitalists,  especially  as  we  visit  the  busy  centres  in  which  they 
and  their  workmen  live,  we  can  not  repress  the  prayer  that  the 
time  may  come,  and  come  soon,  when  the  contrast  between  the 
luxury  of  the  employer  and  the  poverty  of  the  employed,  in  this 
country,  may  not  be  as  startling  as  it  is  to-day.  In  other  words, 
that  while  the  riches  of  the  one  are  almost  incalculably  increased, 
the  comforts  of  the  other  should  be  as  carefully  considered  and 
cultivated.  The  example  of  the  great  English  manufacturer, 
Crossley,  whose  name,  like  that  of  Girard,  the  greatest  of  the 
benefactors  of  Philadelphia,  will  be  remembered  and  revered 
as  long  as  the  town  of  Halifax  stam^ought  to  be  copied  large 
ly  in  the  United  States. 

[January  5, 1873.]  /fo?'       *   THK 

'UNIVERSITY: 


AH  !  if  men  of  note  could  only  realize  how  much  their  true 
fame  depended  on  their  biographies,  written  by  themselves. 
Two  late  instances  will  suffice  to  prove  the  point.  Had  Charles 
Dickens  and  Edwin  Forrest  kept  fair  records  of  their  experi 
ences,  what  treasures  they  would  have  left  to  posterity !  The 
French  translator  of  Dickens's  works  once  asked  him  for  a  few 
particulars  of  his  life.  He  replied  that  he  kept  them  for  him 
self.  I  never  met  Forrest  that  I  did  not  implore  him  to  invite 
my  faithful  short-hand  writer  to  report  the  story  of  his  life,  as  he 
could  only  tell  it  himself;  but  the  answer  always  was :  "  Not 
now  •  some  time  when  we  both  have  more  leisure  we  will  un 
dertake  it  together."  Alas  !  his  light,  like  that  of  Dickens,  was 
quenched  in  a  second.  Both  these  men  were  unrivaled  talk- 

S 


410  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

ers,  and  they  liked  to  talk  among  their  friends.  How  full  and 
affluent  their  memories !  how  varied  their  trials !  how  unusual 
their  triumphs  !  One  hour  with  Forrest,  in  private,  when  he  was 
in  the  vein,  was  better  than  an  evening  with  him  on  the  stage. 
He  was  full  of  wit.  Conversation  brought  him  out ;  and  it  was 
wonderful  how  easily  he  unfolded  his  stores  of  information. 
Foreign  manners ;  domestic  customs ;  the  vicissitudes  of  his 
early  life  ;  his  sketches  of  the  public  men  he  knew  at  home  and 
abroad ;  his  adventures  in  the  old  stage-coach,  on  steam-boats, 
and  cars;  his  favorite  books;  his  pictures;  his  statuary;  his 
amazing  repertoire  of  quotations  and  imitations ;  even  his  prej 
udices — as  these  fell  from  his  lips — would  have  made  a  volume 
almost  as  interesting  as  "  BoswelPs  Johnson."  And  this  may 
be  said  with  even  greater  truth  of  Charles  Dickens.  Both  died 
suddenly,  "  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,"  and  the  loss  to  the 
world  is  beyond  reparation.  When  we  think  how  easy  the  art 
of  autobiography  has  been  made  by  modern  invention,  it  is  pain 
ful  to  think  how  men,  whose  lives  are  crowded  with  knowledge 
that  should  survive,  postpone  the  pleasing  task  of  recording 
their  recollections.  What  better  materials  for  history  than 
these  personal  details  !  Object  as  we  may  to  the  fashion  of  in 
terviewing  public  characters,  there  is  no  reading  like  the  reports 
of  their  habits  and  ideas,  and  none  more  enduringly  preserved. 
Louis  Napoleon  is  dead,  and  nothing  that  we  have  of  him  will 
be  more  profitably  recalled  than  Chevalier  Wikoff's  admirable 
conversations  with  him  after  the  fall  of  Sedan,  in  the  New  York 
Herald.  What  a  fine  talker  says  in  his  social  hours  to  a  friend 
is  very  different  from  what  he  writes.  There  is  a  sparkle  in  his 
words,  a  flow  in  his  sentiments,  a  freedom  in  his  manner,  that 
can  be  photographed  only  by  the  quick  skill  of  the  short-hand 
writer ;  and  once  down,  they  last  like  the  paintings  of  a  great 
master.  A  fair  copy  of  Senator  Nye's  quaint  sayings  and  odd 
stories  at  one  dinner-party  would  be  a  classic.  The  bright  Ion 
mots  of  William  M.  Evarts,  if  they  could  be  recovered,  would 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  411 

shine  like  gems  in  the  choicest  magazine.  A  night  with  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes  would  supply  gossip  more  delightful  to  liter 
ature  than  any  thing  he  has  achieved  in  "  The  Autocrat  of  the 
Breakfast  Table."  Henry  C.  Carey,  of  Philadelphia,  much  as 
he  has  written,  is  never  so  happy  as  when  he  relates  the  inci 
dents  of  other  days  at  his  "  vespers."  My  cherished  and  la 
mented  friend,  William  Prescott  Smith,  used  to  set  the  cars  in  a 
roar  with  his  matchless  skill  in  satire  and  in  story.  Nothing  is 
more  eagerly  read  and  re-read  than  a  pleasant  autobiography 
or  diary,  whether  it  be  Pepy's,  Benjamin  Franklin's,  Boswell's 
Johnson,  Coleridge's  Conversations,  Crabbe  Robinson's,  the 
recollections  of  the  actor  Young,  by  his  son,  or  the  works  of  the 
elder  Mathews.  And  if  John  Forster  could  have  added  a  vol 
ume  of  Charles  Dickens's  own  experiences,  as  these  fell  from 
his  lips,  to  the  two  he  has  already  published,  his  book  would  be 
without  a  rival  in  modern  biography.  The  difference  between 
autobiography  and  biography  is  thus  quaintly  drawn  by  the 
French  author,  H.  A.  Taine,  in  his  late  work  on  "  The  History 
of  English  Literature :" 

"On  the  day  after  the  burial  of  a  celebrated  man  his  friends 
and  enemies  apply  themselves  to  the  work :  his  school-fellows 
relate  in  the  newspapers  his  boyish  pranks ;  another  recalls  ex 
actly,  and  word  for  word,  the  conversations  he  had  with  him  a 
score  of  years  ago.  The  lawyer  who  manages  the  affairs  of  the 
deceased  draws  up  a  list  of  the  different  offices  he  has  filled, 
his  titles,  dates,  and  figures,  and  reveals  to  the  matter-of-fact 
readers  how  the  money  left  has  been  invested,  and  how  the  for 
tune  has  been  made ;  the  grandnephews  and  second  cousins 
publish  an  account  of  his  acts  of  humanity,  and  the  catalogue 
of  his  domestic  virtues.  If  there  is  no  literary  genius  in  the 
family,  they  select  an  Oxford  man,  conscientious,  learned,  who 
treats  the  dead  like  a  Greek  author,  amasses  endless  docu 
ments,  involves  them  in  endless  comments,  crowns  the  whole 
with  endless  discussion,  and  comes  ten  years  later,  some  Christ- 


412  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

mas  morning,  with  his  white  tie  and  placid  smile,  to  present  to 
the  assembled  family  three  quartos  of  800  pages,  the  easy  style 
of  which  would  send  a  German  from  Berlin  to  sleep.  He  is 
embraced  by  them  with  tears  in  their  eyes ;  they  make  him  sit 
down  ;  he  is  the  chief  ornament  of  the  festivities  ;  and  his  work 
is  sent  to  the  Edinburgh  Review.  The  latter  groans  at  the  sight 
of  the  enormous  present,  and  tells  off  a  young  and  intrepid 
member  of  the  staff  to  concoct  some  kind  of  a  biography  from 
the  table  of  contents.  Another  advantage  of  posthumous  biog 
raphy  is  that  the  dead  man  is  no  longer  there  to  refute  either 
biographer  or  man  of  learning." 

[January  12, 1873.] 


XCVI. 

WILLIAM  HAZLITT,  in  his  delightful  "  Table  Talk/'  describes 
an  "Indian  juggler,"  and  makes  his  theme  the  occasion  of 
some  humorous  and  sensible  reflections.  Meeting  Signor  An 
tonio  Blitz  at  a  last  New-year's  reception,  in  his  sixty-third  year, 
I  was  reminded  of  that  curious  essay,  and  of  the  Signer's  claims 
to  favorable  recollection.  His  face  is  fresh,  though  not  unwrink- 
led ;  his  hair  and  beard  are  white ;  his  eyes  bright ;  his  step 
quick ;  his  vivacity  fairly  contagious.  Here  is  a  character  who 
has  grown  rich  as  a  proficient  in  legerdemain,  yet  has  outlived 
criticism,  and  by  the  practice  of  a  genuine  philanthropy,  and 
the  observance  of  his  duties  as  a  citizen,  made  himself  an  hon 
orable  name.  For  fifty  years  he  has  contributed  to  the  inno 
cent  enjoyment  of  old  and  young.  His  peculiar  talents,  early 
shown,  induced  his  father  to  send  him  out  upon  the  world  when 
he  was  a  little  over  thirteen,  making  his  first  appearance  at  Ham 
burg,  playing  in  succession  at  Lubeck,  Potsdam,  and  the  prin 
cipal  cities  of  Northern  Europe,  every  where  exciting  wonder 


ANTONIO    BLITZ.  413 

as  "The  Mysterious  Boy."  After  two  years  of  adventure,  the 
youngster  returned  home,  in  time  to  be  folded  in  his  mother's 
arms  and  to  see  her  die.  He  was  fifteen  when  he  appeared  in 
England,  and  had  rare  success,  but  did  not  venture  upon  the 
London  boards  till  he  was  eighteen.  Good  fortune  welcomed 
him  from  the  first,  and  would  have  waited  on  him  to  the  last  had 
he  not  been  cheated  by  his  managers.  His  Irish  and  Scotch 
tours  were  full  of  incident  and  anecdote.  In  1834,  in  his  twen 
ty-fifth  year,  he  landed  in  America,  and  performed  at  Niblo's 
Garden,  where  he  met  Norton,  the  great  cornet-player,  so  well 
known  in  Philadelphia,  and  witnessed  the  long  contest  between 
him  and  his  rival  on  the  same  instrument,  Signer  Gambati,  and 
played  some  of  his  best  tricks  on  Hamblin  and  Price,  the  dis 
tinguished  theatrical  managers.  After  a  tour  of  New  England 
and  the  West,  he  appeared  in  Philadelphia  under  the  patronage 
of  Maelzel,  the  proprietor  of  the  celebrated  Automaton  Chess 
Player,  the  Burning  of  Moscow,  the  Automaton  Trumpeter,  and 
the  wonderful  Rope  Dancer,  and  made  his  bow  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  Eighth  and  Chestnut  Streets  in  that  city.  What  scenes 
of  our  childhood  come  back  to  us  at  the  mere  mention  of  these 
names !  He  next  journeyed  through  the  South,  the  British 
Provinces,  the  West  Indies,  beginning  at  Barbadoes  and  ending 
at  Havana.  After  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  settled 
in  Philadelphia,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided,  to  use  his  own 
words,  "  In  my  own  house,  with  ample  means  for  all  the  neces 
saries  and  comforts  of  life,  surrounded  by  a  host  of  near  and 
clear  friends,  whose  warm  hearts  and  smiling  faces  always  greet 
and  cheer  me."  It  was  in  Philadelphia  that  he  spent  most  of 
his  time,  not  relaxing  his  work,  and  giving  pleasure  to  thou 
sands  of  all  conditions  in  life,  in  public  and  in  private.  No  so 
cial  party  in  the  winter  is  complete  without  his  cheering  pres 
ence  and  amusing  deceptions. 

I  have  read  the  autobiography  of  Signor  Blitz,  published  in 
1872,  not  so  much  because  it  is  the  story  of  a  successful  nee- 


414  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

romancer,  as  to  show  how  invariably  he  turned  his  talent  to 
good  account,  and  how  often  a  ventriloquist  and  a  "magician" 
may  accomplish  what  defies  the  physician,  the  lawyer,  and  the 
philosopher.  Some  of  these  experiences  will  show  that  the 
good  Signer  has  not  labored  as  a  mere  juggler,  but  has  left  a 
broad  white  mark  in  history  showing  that  he  had  a  higher  as 
piration  than  the  tricks  of  his  trade. 

His  landlady  in  London  was  so  alarmed  by  his  skill,  which 
she  regarded  as  superhuman,  that  she  begged  him  to  leave  her 
house.  "  Do  go  away  sir,  do ;  and,  there,  let  me  give  you  this, 
and  perhaps  you  will  not  be  tempted  again ;"  and  she  handed 
him  a  -Bible.  He  accepted  it ;  but,  on  opening  it,  found  and 
handed  her  a  five-pound  note  from  between  the  leaves,  placed 
there  quietly  by  himself,  and  then  she  felt  that  he  was  not  in 
league  with  Satan.  This  same  landlady  had  a  son,  who  was  the 
pride  of  her  heart,  but  secretly  an  inveterate  gambler,  who  play 
ed  away  all  his  earnings,  and  finally  used  his  employers'  money. 
The  Signor  resolved  to  save  him  if  the  young  man  would  agree 
to  his  conditions.  He  gladly  consented,  and  the  Signor  was 
duly  introduced  to  the  gambling- saloon,  and  began  to  play 
cards.  At  first  he  lost,  but  gradually  won  until  he  had  secured 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  when,  with  his  friend,  he  left  the 
place.  But  let  Mr.  Blitz  tell  the  sequel : 

"  After  I  had  gained  the  street,  and  was  a  considerable  way 
from  the  house,  where  my  visit  had  not  been  a  very  agreeable 
one  to  some,  who  wished  me  to  remain  longer,  I  turned  and 
said  :  '  There,  Harry,  you  see  what  I  have  done.  This  fortune, 
as  you  gamblers  call  it,  is  a  cheat,  and  the  money  which  I  have 
taken  from  those  scoundrels  who  robbed  you,  was  done  in  ac 
cordance  with  their  own  principles.  Here  are  the  cards  I  played 
.vith/  and  beneath  the  light  of  a  street-lamp  I  showed  him  a 
pack  of  cards,  so  arranged  that  I  could  always  hold  the  game 
in  my  hands.  Besides,  I  designated  marks  by  which  I  could 
tell  the  character  of  every  card  in  the  hands  of  my  opponents. 


VENTRILOQUISM.  415 

'  There,'  said  I, '  in  those  and  similar  ways  lies  the  art  of  gam 
bling.  You  have  been  duped,  but  I  know  that  you  will  not  be 
so  again. 

"  *  I  see  it  all — but  now  it  is  too  late  !'  exclaimed  the  poor 
fellow.  l  Now  I  see  my  disgrace.' 

" '  Not  yet;  promise  me  but  one  thing  and  you  shall  be  saved.' 

" '  What  is  it  ?  I  will  do — aye,  be  any  thing,  only  for  my  poor 
mother's  sake.' 

" '  Give  me  your  word  of  honor,  then,  that  you  will  never  again 
touch  card  or  dice-box,  and  there  is  the  money  which  I  have 
won.  Take  it ;  pay  back  the  sum  which  you  have  taken  from 
your  employers,  make  what  honest  and  true  account  you  can  to 
your  mother,  and  remember  as  long  as  you  live  the  night  of  the 
roth  of  March,  1829.' 

"  The  young  man  promised,  and  I  never  had  occasion  to 
doubt  but  that  he  kept  his  word." 

He  not  only  puzzled  and  amused  the  ignorant,  but  the  edu 
cated  and  the  scientific,  among  the  latter  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Crampton,  of  Dublin,  forty  years  ago,  who  fled  with  his  students 
from  his  dissecting-room,  when  the  Signer,  who  was  present, 
threw  his  voice  into  the  body  of  a  female  subject,  and  protested 
against  the  sacrifice.  At  Limerick,  one  of  the  female  servants 
stole  some  jewelry  from  one  of  the  ladies,  and  the  Signer  was 
called  on  to  point  out  the  culprit.  He  called  all  the  servants 
of  the  hotel  together,  told  them  of  the  theft,  and  said  he  knew 
the  guilty  one  was  in  the  room ;  but,  to  avoid  all  exposure,  he 
would  wait  a  few  hours,  to  give  a  chance  for  the  return  of  the 
property.  At  midnight  the  poor  girl  came  to  his  room,  gave 
back  the  jewelry,  and  on  her  knees  begged  forgiveness,  and 
prayed  she  might  not  be  exposed,  as  it  was  her  first  offense. 
He  promised,  kept  his  faith  to  her,  and  restored  the  trinkets  to 
their  owner.  The  incident  added  vastly  to  his  fame.  A  ras 
cally  tax-collector  was  seen  carrying  off  one  of  his  rabbits,  and 
the  Signer  proceeded  to  his  house  and  demanded  it.  The 


4J  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

scamp  denied  his  crime,  and  a  dispute  ensued,  when  the  rabbit 
broke  from  its  concealment,  exclaiming,  in  a  gruff  tone,  "  You 
are  a  scamp,  and  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  your  soul."     "Who 
dares  call  me  a  scamp?"   screamed  the  thief.     "I  do!"   the 
rabbit  answered.     "  You  never  paid  a  ha'penny  for  me,  Ryan. 
Did  you  not  bring  me  here  last  night  from  the  hall  ?     To-night 
I  will  call  my  imps  from  below,  and  take  you  to  the  deepest 
regions  of  fire."     The  scoundrel  took  fright,  and  restored  the 
rabbit  as  one  "bewitched."     The  whole  community  were  re 
lieved  at  the  detection  of  the  dishonest  official.     One  day  he 
frightened  an  exorbitant  landlord  into  decency  by  making  a 
parrot  echo  his  own  denunciation  of  the  tyrant.    He  was  intro 
duced  to  ex-President  Van  Buren  (often  called  "  the  Little  Ma 
gician  ")  in   New  York,  and   exchanged   compliments,  which 
closed  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  saying,  "  I  have  often  seen  our  names 
coupled,  as  wielding  the  magic  wand;  but  I  resign  to  you  the 
superiority.    You,  Signor,  please  and  delight  all  ages  and  sexes, 
while  my  jugglery  is  for  political  purposes."     O'Connell,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  and  many  of  the  nobility  visited  his  rooms, 
just  as  Van  Buren,  Clay,  and  Webster  patronized  him  in  this 
country.     Once  he  saved  his  life  by  imitating  a  conversation 
with  different  persons  in  different  voices,  and  mingling  all  with 
the  barking  of  two  dogs.     This  was  when  he  lived  near  the 
New  York  Croton  Works,  while  they  were  in  course  of  construc 
tion,  and  when  Fifty-third  Street  was  beset  by  ruffians.     His 
jokes  were  never  cruel,  as,  for  instance,  his  taking  a  bottle  of 
whisky  out  of  the  hat  of  Governor  Briggs,  of  Massachusetts,  a 
noted  temperance  man,  or  his  asking  the  Boston  philanthropist, 
Josiah  Bradley,  to  lend  him  his  coat  for  one  of  his  tricks,  which 
the  good  old  man  did,  to  the  infinite  amusement  of  Daniel  Web 
ster,  who  sat  in  the  audience.     He  was  welcome  at  Harvard 
University,  and  played  for  the  alumni  and  the  acolytes.     The 
great  and  graceful  Justice  Story  came  often  to  his  exhibitions, 
and  would  take  a  seat  among  the  boys  on  the  front  bench,  en- 


CONJURATION    AND   MIGHTY   MAGIC.  417 

joying  himself  to  the  full,  "  where  he  would  laugh  away  dull 
care,"  and,  returning  home  refreshed,  "  would  write  till  morn 
ing;  for  nothing  so  restores  the  brain  as  a  good  hearty  laugh." 
He  met  Millard  Fillmore  on  a  canal-boat  in  the  West,  and  years 
after  saw  him  in  Washington,  when  Mr.  Fillmore  said,  "  Little 
did  I  expect,  Signor,  when  traveling  with  you  on  the  canal,  I 
should  ever  become  President  of  the  United  States."     His  de 
scription  of  the  great  Automaton  Chess  Player,  and  of  the  two 
players— Maelzel,  the  inventor,  outside,  and  Schlomberg  within 
the  figure — both  masters  of  that  scientific  game,  is  full  of  inter 
est.     "  Maelzel  and  Schlomberg  were,  in  their  time,  the  great 
living  representatives  of  chess ;  their  hearts  and  feelings  were 
so  identified  with  the  game  that  they  dreamed  of  it  by  night 
and  practiced  it  by  day.     At  every  meal  and  in  all  intervals  a 
portable  chess-board  was  before  them.     They  ate,  drank,  and 
played,  while  not  a  word  escaped  their  lips.     It  was  a  quiet, 
earnest,  mental  combat,  and  the  anxiety  of  every  pause  and 
move  was  defined  in  each  countenance,  their  features  revealing 
what  the  tongue  could  not  express."     Schlomberg  died  of  a 
fever,  and  poor  Maelzel  expired  on  his  way  from  Havana  to 
Philadelphia,  and  was  buried  in  the  ocean.     The  Automaton 
Chess  Player  was  destroyed  by  fire  with  the  Chinese  Museum, 
and  the  Automaton  Trumpeter  is  now  the  property  of  Mr.  E. 
N.  Scherr,  the  retired  piano-maker  of  Philadelphia.    He  relates 
a  pleasing  incident  of  the  illustrious  John  Bannister  Gibson, 
Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  one  of  his  best  friends,  who  was 
surprised  to  find  the  Signer's  wallet  in  his  pocket,  though  he 
sat  at  a  distance  from  him.     His  interviews  with  Webster  and 
Clay,  during  John  Tyler's  administration,  proved  the  respect 
they  had  for  him.     "  Give  me,"  he  said  to  Webster,  "  one  hun 
dred  thousand  Treasury  notes  to  count,  and  watch  closely,  and 
you  will  find  only  seventy-five  thousand  when  I  return  them." 
"  Signor,"  responded  Webster,  with  lively  animation,  "  there  is 
no  chance ;  there  are  better  magicians  here  than  you ;  there 

S  2 


418  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

would  not  be  fifty  thousand  left  after  their  counting."  Henry 
Clay  asked  him  to  visit  the  Senate  Chamber  and  throw  his  voice 
among  his  Democratic  friends,  so  that  they  might  vote  for  the 
measures  they  had  opposed,  and  added,  "  It  would  cause  a  glo 
rious  excitement  among  the  Democracy."  He  met  John  Quincy 
Adams  in  Canada,  and  was  much  impressed  by  his  conversa 
tion.  In  his  tour  to  the  West  Indies  he  had  a  fine  field  in  the 
superstitions  of  the  people.  They  regarded  him  as  something 
more  than  mortal,  and  called  on  him  to  work  impossibilities. 
The  sick,  the  lame,  the  blind,  the  unfortunate,  hailed  him  as  the 
good  physician.  He  told  them  he  was  no  dealer  in  miracles, 
no  spiritualist,  no  astrologer,  nothing  but  an  artist  traveling  to 
make  a  living  for  himself  by  giving  innocent  pleasure  to  others, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  show  by  his  own  progress  the  progress 
of  science.  Yet,  with  these  qualities,  he  did  what  many  an  an 
cient  necromancer  would  have  failed  in.  He  reconciled  hostile 
parents  to  the  marriage  of  faithful  lovers  ;  frightened  the  drunk 
ard  into  temperance  ;  infused  courage  into  a  ship's  crew  during 
a  storm  at  sea,  and  once  compelled  the  restoration  of  her  for 
tune  to  a  poor  girl  by  making  the  portrait  of  the  dead  brother 
of  the  dishonest  guardian  speak  in  stern  rebuke  of  his  guilt. 
But  no  part  of  this  curious  character  is  so  agreeable  as  his  con 
stant  attendance  upon  the  insane.  With  his  birds,  his  rabbits, 
his  ventriloquy,  he  is  greeted  with  joy  by  the  poor  creatures, 
whose  minds,  "like  sweet  bells  jangled  out  of  tune,"  are  made 
briefly  happy  by  his  kindness  and  his  skill.  During  the  war  he 
was  omnipresent  in  the  hospitals,  performing  gratuitously  to  the 
maimed  and  broken,  filling  the  hours  of  convalescence  with  joy, 
and  smoothing  the  pillows  of  the  weary.  He  gave  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  entertainments  before  sixty-three  thousand  sol 
diers,  and  three  weeks,  every  afternoon  aad  evening,  at  the 
"  Great  Sanitary  Fair,"  in  Logan  Square,  Philadelphia.  All 
this  work  was  gratuitous.  I  quote  from  his  autobiography  his 
own  idea  of  his  mission  : 


A    POPULAR    RENDEZVOUS.  419 

"  Such  witless  sighing  and  croaking  oddly  contrast  with  the 
full  free  bursts  of  glee  which  break  forth  from  the  merry  troops 
of  children  we  meet  on  every  hand,  or  the  loud  and  joyous  songs 
of  the  bright  birds,  to  whose  pure  notes  the  streams  and  winds 
join  their  full  chorus. 

".It  was  a  laugh  which  gave  birth  to  Eden's  first  echo,  and 
why  not  let  it  still  live  on  ? 

"  He  who  gives  us  one  hour's  pure  pleasure  is  a  far  greater 
philanthropist  than  he  who  prates  of  charity  and  heaven,  which 
can  only  be  obtained,  so  says  his  creed,  by  passing  through 
lives  of  sighing,  fasting,  and  continued  slavish  fear  of  Him  who 
would  have  us  in  all  things  free,  living  for  the  beautiful  and 
good  alone." 

This  is  my  ninety-sixth  anecdote ;  and  yet,  among  the  nu 
merous  characters  I  have  attempted  to  describe,  no  one  has 
done  more  to  promote  the  happiness  of  his  fellow-beings  than 
Antonio  Blitz. 

[January  19,  1873.] 


XCVII. 

FOR  many  years  before  the  war  the  northwest  corner  of  Sev 
enth  and  Chestnut  Streets,  Philadelphia,  was  a  popular  resort 
of  public  men  of  all  sides.  The  head  of  the  house  was  Harry 
Connelly,  one  of  the  handsomest  men  I  ever  knew,  and  full  of 
excellent  traits.  You  would  not  have  taken  him  for  the  propri 
etor,  with  his  exquisite  dress,  ruffled  shirt,  and  easy  manner. 
He  was  like  one  of  his  guests,  and  left  his  business  to  a  bright 
mulatto  called  "  Lew,"  who  was  the  factotum  of  the  concern, 
and  relieved  his  employer  from  a  world  of  care.  Both  master 
and  man  are  gone,  and  the  old  dingy  building  has  given  way 
to  a  stately  structure,  in  part  of  which  Colonel  Greene's  Sunday 


42O  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

Transcript  is  printed  and  published;  but  the  men  who  gathered 
in  the  ancient  back  room  every  day  for  years  still  live  in  many 
memories.  They  met  involuntarily,  and  spent  many  happy 
hours.  Harry  Connelly  saw  much  of  society  of  all  kinds,  and 
was  an  especial  favorite  with  the  Southerners.  He  was  the  in 
timate  of  many  of  the  great  horsemen  of  Kentucky,  and  he  had 
been  present  at  more  than  one  desperate  personal  encounter. 
Naturally  most  amiable,  he  believed  in  the  code  of  honor,  and 
was  a  party  to  more  than  one  "affair."  A  prince  in  expendi 
tures,  and  a  gentleman  in  manners,  his  rooms  were  sought  by 
his  friends  far  and  near.  "Harry  Connelly's"  was  the  scene 
of  many  important  discussions  and  business  operations.  It 
was  a  rendezvous  for  people  of  diverse  views  and  objects — 
a  sort  of  neutral  ground,  where  every  body  uttered  his  own 
ideas,  and  where  every  gentleman  was  tolerated.  And  it  was 
pleasant  to  note  that  those  who  gathered  at  Connelly's  were 
always  careful  in  their  treatment  of  each  other.  Henry  Clay 
liked  Harry  as  one  of  his  original  supporters,  and  frequently 
dropped  in  with  his  friend,  ex-Mayor  John  Swift;  Daniel  Web 
ster,  who  stopped  at  Hartwell's  (now  Bolton's)  Washington 
House,  two  doors  off,  liked  to  take  one  of  the  rickety  arm 
chairs  and  talk  to  the  pleasant  host,  and  John  J.  Crittenden 
would  stay  for  hours  to  gossip  over  the  times.  I  have  met  in 
this  dark  back  room,  with  its  low,  cobwebbed  ceiling,  most  of 
the  public  characters  between  1845  arjd  1860.  Robert  T.  Con 
rad,  author  of  "  Jack  Cade,"  and  Robert  M.  Bird,  author  of  the 
"  Gladiator ;"  David  Wilmot  and  Henry  M.  Fuller ;  John  C. 
Breckinridge  and  Jesse  D.  Bright ;  James  Buchanan  and  John 
Slidell ;  Josiah  Randall  (father  of  the  present  Representative 
from  the  First  Congressional  District,  Pennsylvania),  and  James 
Watson  Webb ;  George  W.  Barton  and  Ovid  F.  Johnson ;  James 
A.  Bayard,  who  was  a  Senator  in  Congress,  and  George  Gor 
don  ;  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  W.  A.  Richardson ;  John  R. 
Thompson,  of  New  Jersey,  and  George  Law,  of  New  York ;  the 


VARIOUS    HANDWRITINGS.  421 

Pennsylvania  Governors,  D.  R.  Porter,  W.  F.  Packer,  W.  F. 
Johnston,  and  Andrew  G.  Curtin ;  George  Ashmun  and  Charles 
F.  Train,  of  Massachusetts ;  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Jack  Ogle,  Dr. 
William  Elder,  Justice  Thompson,  Henry  S.  Magraw,  Aristides 
Welch,  D.  K.  Jackman,  A.  K.  McClure,  Charles  Wister,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  were  among  the  visitors.  You  met  there  the  kings  of 
finance,  of  the  stage,  of  the  turf,  and  of  politics.  It  was  altogeth 
er  a  novelty,  a  spontaneous  growth.  I  look  over  the  long  cata 
logue  of  those  who  made  "  Harry  Connelly's  "  their  head-quar 
ters,  and  discover  that  while  most  of  them  are  dead,  none  who 
survive  can  fail  to  realize  that  when  our  generous  friend  was 
himself  called  away  we  lost  one  of  the  few  who  was  never  half 
so  happy  as  when  he  was  making  others  happy. 
[January  24,  1873.] 


XCVIII. 

THE  art  of  caligraphy,  or  fair  handwriting,  is  one  of  the  most 
useful  of  accomplishments,  and  the  manner  in  which  a  man 
puts  down  his  thoughts  is  often  taken  as  an  index  to  his  char 
acter.  But  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  all  our  states 
men,  old  and  new,  did  not  or  do  not  write  plainly,  and  that  the 
habit  of  rapid  composition  and  heavy  correspondence  leads  to 
carelessness.  Washington's  State  papers,  his  letters,  and  his 
accounts,  are  models  of  order  and  cleanliness,  rather  set  off  by 
his  antique  spelling.  James  Madison  wrote  a  small,  beautiful 
hand,  in  keeping  with  his  chaste  and  classic  oratory.  General 
Jackson  wrote  with  the  direct  boldness  of  his  nature,  though 
somewhat  indifferent  to  his  orthography.  James  Buchanan 
prided  himself  upon  his  cautious  style,  his  careful  spelling,  his 
exact  punctuation,  and  the  absence  of  interlineations.  Henry 
Clay  wrote  plainly,  like  an  outspoken  and  intrepid  soul.  Web- 


422  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

star's  hand,  without  being  ornate,  was  strong.  George  M.  Dal 
las  was  a  master  of  the  art.  Nothing  could  be  more  exquisite  or 
more  graceful,  in  manner  and  matter,  than  his  notes  and  letters. 
John  Van  Buren  was  not  nearly  so  exact  as  his  great  father. 
Albert  Gallatin  wrote  like  copper-plate.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a 
letter  of  his,  dated  New  York,  April,  1843,  in  which,  referring 
to  Thomas  Jefferson,  he  says:  "As  the  testimony  of  the  only 
surviving  member  of  Jefferson's  Cabinet — as  one  entirely  ac 
quainted  with  him,  who  enjoyed  his  entire  confidence — I  can 
bear  witness  to  the  purity  of  his  character,  and  to  his  sincere 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  those  political  tenets  which  he  con 
stantly  and  openly  avowed  and  promulgated.  I  do  also  aver, 
with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  facts,  that  for  his  elevation 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  solely  in  debt  to  the  sense  entertained 
of  his  public  services,  and  of  his  well-known  political  opinions, 
and  that  he  was,  altogether,  the  spontaneous  choice  of  the  peo 
ple — not  promoted  by  any  intrigue,  nor  ever  nominated  by  any 
assembly  or  convention,  but  without  any  preconcerted  action, 
and  yet  without  competitor,  selected  unanimously  in  every  quar 
ter  as  their  candidate  by  the  majority  which  elected  him."  No 
lady  in  the  land  could  surpass  this  fine  autograph.  Martin  Van 
Buren's  tribute  to  Jefferson  is  written  in  a  rather  large  hand, 
and  in  a  flowing  style.  He  says,  "  With  the  single  exception  of 
General  Washington,  no  man  ever  lived  whose  claims  upon  the 
gratitude  of  mankind  for  public  services  were  greater  than  those 
of  Jefferson."  How  beautifully  the  lamented  William  Wilkins, 
of  Pittsburgh,  whose  venerable  widow  is  now  living  in  elegant 
retirement  in  Philadelphia,  spoke  on  the  same  theme  in  the 
'  same  year :  "Why  is  it,"  he  asks,  in  a  most  satisfactory  hand 
writing,  "that  time,  so  fatal  to  ordinary  reputations,  only  serves 
to  brighten  the  fame  of  him  we  delight  to  honor  ?  The  cause 
is  not  to  be  found  in  any  or  all  the  great  actions  of  his  life, 
however  illustrious ;  it  is  due  to  that  of  which  all  these  were  but 
the  outward  manifestation,  of  the  earnest  and  deep-seated  con- 


PUBLICISTS'  AUTOGRAPHY.  423 

fidence  of  the  people.  He  loved  and  trusted  his  species — he 
has  taught  us  this  great  secret  of  his  confidence."  And  here 
before  me  are  two  letters,  one  from  each  of  the  rival  candidates 
for  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  thirty  years  ago — Henry  E.  Muh- 
lenberg  and  Francis  R.  Shunk — both  accurate  and  intelligible, 
and  that  of  Shunk  unusually  bold  and  large.  Thomas  Ritchie 
wrote  a  hand  not  quite  so  difficult  to  make  out  as  that  of  Mr. 
Greeley,  but  in  the  same  style.  His  editorials  were  dashed  off 
in  great  haste,  sometimes  on  long  slips,  sometimes  on  small 
ones,  and  he  composed  with  extraordinary  facility.  General 
Cass,  who  wrote  much,  and  always  like  a  scholar,  had  an  edito 
rial  hand ;  while  Andrew  Stevenson,  of  Virginia,  father  of  the 
present  Senator  from  Kentucky,  could  have  set  copies  for  a 
country  school,  and  yet  in  the  ardor  of  composition  he  would 
make  himself  very  difficult  to  decipher.  Senator  Sumner's 
writing  is  characteristically  large  and  distinct;  short  sentences, 
carefully  pointed,  good  ink,  and  excellent  stationery — somewhat 
after  the  Parliamentary  fashion.  He  is  a  prodigious  worker, 
and,  I  fear,  even  in  his  prostration,  can  not  keep  his  hand  from 
pen  and  pencil.  Caleb  Gushing  writes  very  rapidly,  and  it  re 
quires  one  familiar  with  his  manuscript  to  interpret  it.  Of  all 
men,  however,  none  was  harder  to  understand  than  Thaddeus 
Stevens.  I  have  some  notes  of  his  which  would  puzzle  an  ex 
pert.  John  Lothrop  Motley,  the  historian,  is  singularly  precise. 
Thackeray  seemed  to  rejoice  in  small  feminine  characters,  and 
took  great  delight,  in  his  letters  to  his  friends,  in  decorating  the 
border  with  all  manner  of  curious  caricatures.  Robert  T.  Con 
rad,  the  poet,  was  a  most  delicate  and  dilettante  writer.  Some 
of  his  poems  were  not  less  models  of  literary  beauty  than  of 
mechanical  taste.  William  B.  Reed,  so  well  known  in  politics 
and  in  literature,  writes  a  hand  much  like  the  venerable  Henry 
C.  Carey — fair  to  look  upon,  but  sometimes  hard  to  decipher. 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  dashed  off  his  letters  without  much  regard 
to  appearance.  He  seemed  to  be  always  under  a  high  pressure, 


424  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

and  what  he  wrote  was  written  with  intense  feeling.  John  C. 
Fremont  signs  his  name  boldly,  a  little  after  the  Dickens  style. 
William  H.  Sewarcl  was  excessively  particular  in  the  prepara 
tion  of  his  speeches,  and  composed  with  deliberation.  I  heard 
an  old  stenographer  say  that  after  he  had  taken  down  Mr.  Sew- 
ard,  literally,  in  one  of  his  greatest  efforts,  and  presented  him 
the  full  report,  the  statesman  recast  the  whole  discourse,  and  sent 
it  to  the  printers  in  his  own  hand.  Senator  Morton  writes  in 
bold,  round  characters.  Thurlow  Weed's  is  significantly  edito 
rial — anybody  who  sees  it  can  tell  that  he  has  reeled  off  multi 
tudinous  leaders.  McMichael,  of  the  North  American,  writes 
nervously,  in  straight  lines,  frequently  hard  to  solve.  He  would 
be  a  fortune  to  any  newspaper  if  he  would  allow  a  short-hand 
reporter  to  take  down  the  words  as  they  fall  from  his  lips.  We 
have  no  better  debater  nor  conversationalist.  Boker,  the  poet, 
prides  himself  upon  his  cool  and  dainty  chirography.  Rufus 
Choate  was  a  dreadful  affliction  to  the  printers  when  they  got 
hold  of  his  legal  papers,  and  the  man  who  most  resembled  him, 
in  his  time,  George  W.  Barton,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  almost  as 
prolific  in  his  oratory  as  in  his  handwriting,  and  it  was  far  eas 
ier  to  enjoy  his  magnificent  rhetoric  than  his  written  sentences. 
Fillmore's  style  was  methodical  and  slow ;  Pierce's  quick,  bold, 
and  legible;  Lincoln's  small,  careful,  and  rather  labored; 
Grant's  unpretending,  and  easily  read.  Perhaps  I  can  not  bet 
ter  terminate  this  desultory  anecdote  than  by  giving  you  the 
following  copy  of  an  autograph  letter,  now  before  me,  written 
by  Edwin  Forrest  in  1856,  when  he  sent  a  subscription  of  two 
hundred  dollars  to  the  treasurer  of  the  Democratic  Committee 
of  Pennsylvania  to  defray  the  expenses  of  electing  James  Bu 
chanan.  It  is  very  carefully  composed,  and  indicates  the  busi 
ness  exactitude  which  marked  him  throughout  life.  The  verse 
of  poetry  which  he  inclosed  with  his  check  seemed  to  have 
been  cut  from  a  country  newspaper,  and  was  pinned  to  his  sig 
nature  : 


PROPHECY    FULFILLED. 


425 


"BOSTON,  November  29,  1856. 

"Mv  DEAR  SIR, — You  must  excuse  me  for  not  replying  sooner  to  your 
letter  of  the  2ist  inst.,  but  an  unusual  press  of  business,  and  other  matters, 
prevented  me  from  doing  so  at  an  earlier  period. 

"  I  herein  inclose  you  a  check  for  two  hundred  dollars,  which  you  will 
apply  to  the  liquidation  of  the  debt  incurred  by  the  Democratic  Committee 
during  the  late  political  canvass.  Truly  yours, 

"EDWIN  FORREST. 

"  '  When  Fremont  raised  a  flag  so  high, 

On  Rocky  Mountain's  peak, 
One  little  busy  bee  did  fly, 

And  light  upon  his  cheek ; 
But  when  November's  ides  arrive, 

To  greet  the  Colonel's  sight, 
Straight  from  the  Democratic  hive 

Two  B's  will  on  him  light — 

Buck  and  Breck.' " 
[February  9,  1873.] 


XCIX. 

A  REPUBLIC  in  Spain,  bloodless  as  yet,  and  therefore  full  of 
promise  of  permanence,  is  indisputably  the  significant  event  of 
the  times.  As  a  peaceful  revolution,  it  is  a  menace  more  for 
midable  than  armies  to  the  absolute  powers.  As  a  result  of 
free  opinion  and  fearless  discussion,  it  marks  the  education  of 
nations  and  their  upward  growth  to  good  government.  Exactly 
how  it  will  progress,  or  where  it  will  end,  save  that  it  is  one  of 
those  advances  that  know  "  no  retiring  ebb,"  it  is  not  neces 
sary  to  debate.  The  formal  and  almost  unanimous  proclama 
tion  of  the  Spanish  Republic,  and  the  abdication  of  the  foreign 
Italian  King,  remind  me  of  an  anecdote  which  may  now  be  re 
lated  as  an  instance  of  prophecy  fulfilled.  Edwin  M.  Stanton 
was  always  friendly  to  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  and  when  the  latter 
was  most  bitterly  assailed  he  had  a  stanch  champion  in  the 


426  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

great  lawyer,  before  and  after  he  was  a  member  of  Lincoln's 
Cabinet.  He  believed  the  talents  of  Sickles  were  too  signal  not 
to  be  made  use  of  during  the  war,  and  when  the  war  was  end 
ed  and  Grant  was  President,  he  strongly  urged  that  the  accom 
plished  New-Yorker  should  be  called  into  the  diplomatic  serv 
ice.  When,  therefore,  General  Sickles  was  appointed  Amer 
ican  Minister  to  Spain,  in  1869,  Mr.Stanton  was  much  gratified. 
The  ex-Secretary  was  at  home  at  his  residence,  on  K  Street, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  when  General  Sickles  and  myself  called  on 
him.  He  was  reclining  on  his  bed  as  we  entered  his  chamber, 
but  he  rose  and  greeted  us  heartily.  It  was  evident  that  he 
was  doomed.  Worn  out  in  one  of  the  severest  struggles  that 
ever  taxed  human  energy,  and  wasted  in  the  weary  conflict  with 
Andrew  Johnson,  all  that  was  left  was  the  clear  and  magnetic 
brain.  Walter  Scott  in  his  magnificent  "Talisman"  describes 
Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart  sick  in  his  tent  among  the  Crusad 
ers,  and  that  splendid  portraiture  might  have  been  applied  to 
the  invalid  Secretary,  with  his  feeble  frame,  and  eager,  nervous 
interest  in  passing  events.  Nothing  escaped  him.  He  was  en 
rapport  with  the  whole  machinery  of  affairs,  full  of  solicitude 
for  Grant,  and  earnest  for  exact  justice  to  all  sections.  "I 
wanted  to  see  you  both,"  he  said ;  "  you,  General,  as  the  new 
Minister  to  Spain,  and  you,  Forney,  as  my  steady  newspaper 
friend.  We  must  make  no  mistake  about  Spain.  She  is  one 
of  our  oldest  and  ablest  allies,  and  behaved  splendidly  to  us 
during  the  rebellion,  refusing  to  open  her  ports  to  the  Confed 
erate  cruisers,  and  never  plotting  through  her  Minister  here, 
like  England,  against  our  cause.  The  Spaniards  are  a  proud, 
peculiar  race,  and  we  can  not  do  any  good  for  liberty  in  Cuba 
by  hasty  action.  Their  prejudices  must  be  respected ;  their  in 
terests  must  not  be  invaded ;  their  traditions  must  be  remem 
bered.  Things  are  moving  in  the  right  way  at  Madrid.  I  know 
this,  gentlemen.  There  is  a  new  Spain,  and  you  will  both  live 
to  see  a  solid  Spanish  Republic  there  if  we  can  only  restrain 


GEORGE   W.  CHILDS.  427 

our  politicians  about  Cuba.  That  pear  is  ripening,  and  will 
fall  as  soon  as  the  days  of  the  kings  are  ended  in  Spain." 
There  was  much  more,  equally  emphatic  and  pointed.  The 
wise,  cautious,  yet  fearless  conduct  of  General  Sickles  at  the 
Spanish  court  greatly  aided  the  Republican  cause,  and  contrib 
uted  much  to  the  preservation  of  peaceful  relations  with  the 
United  States,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  sagacious  and 
prophetic  counsel  of  Mr.  Stanton  was  always  present  in  the 
memory  of  the  American  Minister  at  Madrid. 

^February  16, 1873.] 


C. 

ON  January  15, 1871,  the  first  of  these  anecdotes,  of  which  this 
is  the  last,  appeared  in  the  Washington  Sunday  Morning  Chron 
icle.  Written  to  rescue  some  of  my  experiences  of  men  and 
things,  they  grew  upon  my  hands  until  I  found  myself  pledged 
to  extend  them  to  a  hundred.  As  I  review  the  curious  medley, 
they  resemble  a  picture-gallery  crowded  with  familiar  faces, 
many  of  them,  in  fact  most  of  them,  dead;  and,  alas  !  not  a  few 
within  the  little  more  than  two  years  during  which  these  hasty 
sketches  have  appeared. 

Following  out  the  plan  of  delineating  the  best  traits  of  my 
subjects,  just  as  the  painter  conceals  the  blemishes  even  as  he 
achieves  a  faithful  portrait,  I  have  also  attempted  to  discover 
the  objective  point  of  every  life,  especiaHy  if  this  could  be  set 
out  as  an  example  to  the  young.  What  better  theme  could  I 
desire,  then,  than  George  W.  Childs,  the  proprietor  of  The  Public 
Ledger, \v\\o  will  not  be  forty- four  till  May  12,  1873?  He  has 
accomplished  as  much  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  and  has 
clone  as  much  for  his  fellow-beings,  as  any  character  within  my 
recollection.  In  his  fifteenth  year  he  came  to  Philadelphia,  like 


428  ANECDOTES    OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  without  a  friend  or  a  dollar.  His  only 
wealth  was  industry,  perseverance,  and  a  stout  heart,  and  with 
these  resistless  weapons  he  fought  his  way  through  inconceiva 
ble  obstacles,  until  he  has  become  the  living  illustration  of  that 
noble  characteristic,  so  rare  among  men  of  affluence — the  ac 
cumulation  of  riches,  not  for  himself  alone,  but  to  make  others 
happy  during  and  after  his  life.  I  take  it  that  a  man  who 
utilizes  such  a  theory  can  afford  to  be  criticised,  as  Mr.  Childs 
has  been,  by  a  few  of  those  who  never  see  a  good  action  with 
out  seeking  a  selfish  motive  for  it.  But  a  fine  example  is  its 
own  best  eulogy.  It  lives  and  it  lasts.  It  bears  fruit  before 
our  eyes  and  refutes  censure  by  practical  results.  Instances 
like  this  are  infrequent.  Wealth  too  often  breeds  avarice  and 
suspicion.  Too  many  hoard  money  for  a  graceless  posterity,  and 
in  blind  selfishness  make  themselves  miserable  while  they  live, 
that  they  may  leave  fortunes  to  spendthrift  children.  The  career 
of  this  young  man,  Childs,  teaches  so  different  a  lesson,  that  a 
friendly  reference  may  perhaps  stimulate  others  to  an  earnest 
imitation  of  it.  And  when  we  read  this  career  in  the  light  of 
the  story  of  The  Public  Ledger,  and  how  he  got  possession  of  it, 
and  how  he  has  improved  and  enhanced  it,  it  sounds  very  like 
a  romance. 

The  first  number  of  The  Ledger  appeared  March  25,  1836. 
The  proprietors  were  three  journeymen  printers — W.  M.  Swain, 
Arunah  S.  Abell,  and  A.  H.Simmons.  It  was  published  at  six 
cents  a  week,  and  rapidly  rose  into  a  great  circulation,  not  alone 
because  its  proprietors  were  energetic,  but  because  they  were 
bold  and  independent.  Wisely  employing  the  powerful  pen 
of  Russell  Jarvis,  they  took  the  right  side  of  every  question, 
and  especially  the  right  of  the  people  to  assemble  in  public 
meeting  and  discuss  all  matters  of  principle  or  policy.  The 
Ledger  did  not  hesitate  to  criticise  courts  and  juries,  and  to  ex 
pose  oppression,  and  was  soon  involved  in  a  libel  suit,  which  it 
met  with  a  pluck  that  excited  universal  applause.  Jarvis  was  a 


PUBLIC   LEDGER.  429 

writer  of  vast  ability,  a  little  too  personal  and  trenchant,  but 
possessing  a  style  of  rare  force  and  fascination.  He  grappled 
with  every  question.  He  chastised  the  rowdyism  of  the  stu 
dents  of  the  two  great  medical  colleges,  who  had  long  terrorized 
the  city;  he  denounced,  with  terrible  invective,  the  burning  of 
Pennsylvania  Hall  on  the  iyth  of  May,  1838,  by  a  mob  of  mad 
men,  resolved  that  no  speeches  against  human  slavery  should 
be  delivered  in  Philadelphia ;  and  when  that  infamous  coward 
ice  was  followed  by  attempts  on  the  two  succeeding  days  to 
destroy  the  asylum  for  colored  children  on  Thirteenth  Street, 
above  Callowhill,  and  the  African  Church  in  Lombard  Street, 
near  Sixth,  the  mob  made  several  demonstrations  against  The 
Ledger  office  ;  but  as  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Swain  was  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  his  brave  editor,  and  was  prepared  to  defend  his 
property  at  every  hazard,  the  ruffians  were  cowed.  Not  less 
fierce  were  The  Ledger's  denunciations  of  the  Native  American 
riots  in  1844.  Such  newspaper  courage  was  uncommon  in 
Philadelphia,  and  for  a  time  The  Ledger  suffered  severely,  but  it 
gradually  recovered  its  prestige,  and  grew  into  enormous  in 
fluence.  It  was  after  these  events  that  George  W.  Childs,  a  lad 
of  eighteen,  who  had  worked  as  an  errand  boy  in  a  bookstore 
three  years  before,  hired  a  little  room  in  The  Ledger  building. 
Here  he  waited  his  opportunity.  Sixteen  years  after,  December 
3,  1864,  he  startled  the  town  by  the  announcement  that  he  had 
purchased  the  great  paper. 

The  example  set  by  the  original  proprietors  was  not  forgotten. 
There  is  at  least  equal  enterprise,  the  same  independence,  tem 
pered  by  a  less  personal  tone,  and  the  same  vigilance  over  the 
interests  of  Philadelphia  and  the  State.  But  a  new  element 
pervades  the  establishment — an  element  characteristic  of  Mr. 
Childs  in  his  first  successful  business  venture — that  of  helping 
others  out  of  his  own  fortune.  A  few  instances  will  show  how 
steadily  he  has  worked  to  this  end.  Before  he  was  twenty-one 
he  was  in  the  firm  of  Childs  &  Peterson,  book  publishers.  A 


430  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

work  compiled  by  Mr.  Peterson,  entitled  "  Familiar  Science," 
young  Childs  pushed  into  a  circulation  of  two  hundred  thousand 
copies.  Dr.  Kane's  "  Arctic  Expedition"  he  put  forth  in  splen 
did  style,  and  paid  a  profit  to  the  author  of  $70,000.  He  en 
gineered  Senator  Brownlow's  book  in  the  same  way,  and  paid 
over  to  the  eccentric  Tennesseean  a  premium  of  $15,000.  More 
than  any  other  influence  he  deserves  the  credit  of  the  great 
success  of  that  massive  work,  "  Allibone's  Dictionary  of  Authors." 
The  following  tribute  on  one  of  the  initial  pages  of  that  book — 
perhaps  the  most  indispensable  in  every  library — is  more  en 
during  than  any  title  of  nobility  : 

"To  George  W.  Childs,  the  original  publisher  of  this  volume,  who  has 
greatly  furthered  my  labors  by  his  enterprise,  and  zealous  and  intelligent  in 
terest,  I  dedicate  the  fruits  of  many  years  of  anxious  research  and  conscien 
tious  toil.  S.  AUSTIN  ALLIBONE." 

George  W.  Childs  never  fails  a  friend.  His  brother  publish 
er,  George  P.  Putnam,  of  New  York,  prints  a  letter  in  which  he 
gratefully  acknowledges  the  prompt  and  cheerful  manner  in 
which  Childs  gave  him  his  name  as  security  for  $100,000  in  his 
hour  of  adversity.  After  referring  to  this  act  of  substantial 
friendship,  Mr.  Putnam  speaks  of  Mr.  Childs  as  publisher  of  27te 
Ledger:  "  Such  an  enterprise  as  would  positively  frighten  most 
of  us  timid  and  slow-moving  old  fogies,  you  in  your  shrewd  en 
ergy  and  wide-awake  sagacity  enter  upon  as  a  positive.  You 
wave  your  magic  wand,  and,  lo  !  palaces  rise,  and  the  genii  of 
steam  and  lightning  send  forth  from  their  subterranean  cells 
and  lofty  attics  thousands  of  daily  messages  over  the  continent; 
and  fortune  follows  deservedly,  because  you  regulate  all  these 
powers  on  liberal  principles  of  justice  and  truth." 

There  are  three  hundred  and  nine  employes  in  TJie  Ledger 
establishment,  exclusive  of  the  newsboys.  At  a  Fourth  of  July 
dinner  given  to  them  by  Mr.  Childs  in  1867,  the  accomplished 
general  manager,  the  leading  editorial  writer,  W.  V.  McKean, 
made  some  interesting  statements.  These  workingmen,  he 


GREAT   NEWSPAPER   ESTABLISHMENT.  431 

said,  represent  a  large  amount  of  individual  capital,  not  less 
than  half  a  million.  "  The  carriers,  although  they  do  not  make 
the  highest  wages,  have  been  among  the  thriftiest  of  the  em 
ploye's,  and  the  aggregate  value  of  their  Ledger  routes  would  sell 
at  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  as  readily  as  Government  securi 
ties,  for  a  sum  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol 
lars."  At  the  same  time,  Mr.  Muckle',  who  has  charge  of  the  cash 
department,  "  referred  to  what  he  considered  the  great  feature 
of  the  day — the  assemblage  of  one  hundred  and  ten  newsboys, 
where  all  was  joy  and  happiness.  Here  again  was  another  evi 
dence  of  Mr.  Childs's  kindness  ;  and,  as  another  striking  proof 
of  his  kind  disposition,  he  would  state  that  during  the  two  years 
of  the  present  proprietorship  he  had  dispensed  for  him  more 
money  in  charity  than  was  given  during  all  his  twenty-three 
years'  connection  with  the  establishment." 

These  three  hundred  and  nine  employe's  sent  to  Mr.  Childs 
a  testimonial,  in  which  they  called  him  their  honored  and  es 
teemed  employer,  and  expressed  their  heartfelt  thanks  for  his 
great  kindness  and  consideration  for  all  of  them,  continued 
without  intermission  since  he  had  been  proprietor  of  The  Public 
Ledger; 

"  For  your  innumerable  acts  of  generosity  and  courtesy,  of 
which  all  of  them  have  been  the  frequent  and  gratified  recip 
ients  ; 

"  For  your  goodness  of  heart,  your  benevolence,  your  enter 
prise,  and  your  cardinal  virtues,  which  not  only  honor  you,  but 
reflect  honor  upon  those  who  labor  for  you  ; 

"  For  the  uniform  justice  with  which  you  have  ruled  The  Pub 
lic  Ledger  office — a  justice  always  tempered  with  mercy — a 
mercy  always  anxious  to  pardon  ;  *  - 

"  And,  above  all,  honored  sir,  your  employe's  desire  to  thank 
you  : 

"  For  having  built  a  palace  for  them- to  work  in  ;  a  printing- 
house  which  is  unparalleled  in  the  world ;  a  printing-office  which, 


432  ANECDOTES    OF    PUBLIC   MEN. 

in  all  its  departments,  is  the  most  healthy,  comfortable,  and  spa 
cious  on  the  American  continent. 

"  For  all  this,  and  more  than  this,  that  you  have  done  for 
them,  your  employes  desire,  though  it  be  in  insufficient  words, 
to  convey  to  you  their  most  sincere  thanks." 

What  this  gratitude  means  was  told  by  the  lamented  Ellis 
Lewis,  former  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  at  the  dedication 
of  the  Printers'  Cemetery,  a  gift  of  Mr.  Childs  to  the  Philadel 
phia  Typographical  Society.  I  was  present  on  that  occasion, 
and  can  never  forget  the  effect  produced  by  the  following  words 
of  the  venerable  man,  now  in  his  grave : 

"  Some  men  pursue  military  glory,  and  expend  their  time  and 
energies  in  the  subjugation  of  nations  ;  Caesar  and  Napoleon  I. 
may  be  named  as  types  of  this  character.  But  the  blood  and 
tears  which  follow  violence  and  wrong  maculate  the  pages  of 
history  on  which  their  glory  is  recorded.  Others  erect  splen 
did  palaces  for  kingly  residences,  and  costly  temples  and  edi 
fices  for  the  promotion  of  education  and  religion,  in  accordance 
with  their  particular  views.  But  views  of  education  and  relig 
ion  change,  buildings  waste  away,  and  whole  cities,  like  Hercu- 
laneum  and  Pompeii,  are  buried  in  the  earth.  Others,  again, 
win  public  regard  by  the  construction  of  means  of  communica 
tion  for  the  furtherance  of  commerce.  The  canals,  railroads, 
and  telegraphs  are  glorious  specimens  of  their  useful  exertions 
for  the  public  good.  But  the  marts  of  commerce  change.  Tyre 
and  Sidon  and  Venice  are  no  longer  commercial  centres.  The 
shores  of  the  Pacific  are  even  now  starting  in  a  race  against  the 
great  commercial  emporium  of  our  continent.  But  Mr.  Childs 
has  planted  himself  in  the  human  heart,  and  he  will  have  his 
habitation  there  while  man  shall  live  upon  earth.  He  has  laid 
the  foundation  of  his  monument  upon  universal  benevolence; 
Its  superstructure  is  composed  of  good  and  noble  deeds.  Its 
spire  is  the  love  of  God,  which  ascends  to  heaven.  Such  a 
monument  is  indeed 


CHIEF   JUSTICE    LEWIS.  433 

" '  A  pyramid  so  wide  and  high, 
That  Cheops  stands  in  envy  by.' 

"  I  have  not  enumerated  the  numerous  private  charities  of 
Mr.  Childs.  The  magnificent  building  which  he  erected  for  The 
Ledger  at  a  cost  of  half  a  million  dollars,  as  a  newspaper  estab 
lishment,  is  unparalleled  in  the  world ;  and  he  could  not  erect 
this  building  without  providing  that  the  press-room,  composing- 
room,  and  reporters'  room,  and  every  other  room  where  his  em 
ployes  are  engaged,  should  be  carefully  warmed,  ventilated,  and 
lighted,  so  that  they  should  be  comfortable  in  their  employment, 
and  enjoy  good  health  in  their  industry.  Even  the  outside  cor 
ners  of  his  splendid  building  could  not  be  constructed  without 
bringing  to  the  large  heart  of  Mr.  Childs  the  wants  of  the  weary 
wayfarer  on  a  hot  summer  day.  Therefore  it  was  that  each  cor 
ner  is  provided  with  a  marble  fountain  to  furnish  a  cup  of  cold 
water  to  every  one  who  is  thirsty.  Mr.  Childs  provides  for  the 
health  of  his  employe's  during  life.  He  has  introduced  bath 
rooms  into  various  parts  of  the  building  for  the  use  of  the  work- 
ingmen,  who  avail  themselves  freely  of  the  privilege  afforded 
them.  He  secures  an  insurance  on  their  lives  for  the  benefit 
of  their  families  after  death,  and  even  then  he  does  not  desert 
them — he  provides  this  beautiful  and  magnificent  burial-lot  for 
the  repose  of  their  lifeless  bodies.  Such  a  man  surely  deserves 
the  love  and  gratitude  of  his  fellow-creatures  on  earth,  and  the 
blessings  of  his  Creator  in  the  world  to  come." 

No  charity  appeals  to  Childs  in  vain  ;  no  object  of  patriot 
ism  ;  no  great  enterprise  ;  no  sufferer  from  misfortune,  whether 
the  ex-Confederate  or  the  stricken  foreigner.  He  enjoys  the 
confidence  of  President  Grant,  and  yet  was  among  the  first  to 
send  a  splendid  subscription  to  the  monument  to  Greeley.  He, 
more  than  any  other,  pushed  the  subscription  of  over  $100,000 
for  the  family  of  the  dead  hero,  George  G.  Meade,  and  yet  Alex 
ander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  has  no  firmer  friend.  His  list  of 
unpublished  and  unknown  benevolences  would  give  the  lie  to 

T 


434  ANECDOTES   OF   PUBLIC   MEN. 

the  poor  story  that  he  craves  notoriety.  When  I  carried  letters 
from  him  to  Europe  in  1867,  his  name  was  a  talisman,  and  it 
was  pleasant  to  see  how  noblemen  like  the  Duke  of  Bucking 
ham  honored  the  indorsement  of  an  American  who,  thirty  years 
ago,  walked  the  streets  of  Philadelphia  without  a  friend  or  a 
dollar.  He  made  his  money  himself,  not  by  speculation  or 
office,  and  got  none  by  inheritance.  He  coins  fortune  like  a 
magician,  and  spends  it  like  a  man  of  heart  He  likes  society, 
and  lives  like  a  gentleman.  He  is  as  temperate  as  Horace 
Greeley  ever  was,  and  yet  he  never  denies  his  friends  a  generous 
glass  of  wine.  His  habits  are  as  simple  as  Abraham  Lincoln's, 
yet  his  residence  is  a  gem  bright  with  exquisite  decoration,  and 
rich  in  every  variety  of  art.  He  gives  a  Christmas  dinner 
to  newsboys  and  bootblacks,  and  dines  traveling  dukes  and 
earls  with  equal  ease  and  familiarity.  He  never  seems  to  be 
at  work,  goes  every  where,  sees  every  body,  helps  every  body, 
and  yet  his  great  machine  moves  like  a  clock  under  his  con 
stant  supervision. 

In  a  sketch  like  this  I  have  no  space  to  do  more  than  allude 
to  The  Ledger  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Childs  ;  to  the  pal 
ace,  which,  cost,  with  the  ground,  over  $500,000,  in  which  he 
prints  and  publishes  it,  and  to  his  circulation,  running  at  times 
to  95,000  copies  a  day.  But  there  is  one  aspect  that  must  not 
be  omitted  as  I  close  these  anecdotes.  I  mean  the  perfect  in 
dependence  of  the  paper  in  regard  to  local  and  general  corrup 
tions.  It  does  not  hesitate.  It  strikes  out  bold  and  quick.  Its 
rhetoric  is  not  so  trenchant  as  that  of  Russell  Jarvis,  when  he 
took  "  the  bull  by  the  horns  "  twenty  and  twenty-five  years  ago, 
and  when  he  stirred  the  sensibilities  of  the  medical  students  and 
the  pro-slavery  mobs ;  but  it  is  more  effective,  because  more 
moderate.  George  W.  Childs,  an  intimate  friend  of  President 
Grant,  does  not  fail  to  tell  him  in  his  Public  Ledger,  as  he  does, 
I  hope,  in  his  private  talk,  that  among  those  who  affect  to  sup 
port  Grant  in  Philadelphia,  there  are  creatures  who  do  not  care 


TRUTH-TELLING.  435 

three  continental  farthings  for  him,  except  as  they  can  use  him. 
It  is  something  to  feel  that  there  is  at  least  one  man  in  Phila 
delphia  who  has  money  enough  not  to  want  any  more,  and  who 
can  afford  to  tell  General  Grant  the  truth  without  being  accused 
of  a  longing  for  his  favor. 


INDEX. 


ACTORS,  Influence  of,  271. 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  48. 

Family,  48  ;  English  descent,  354. 
Henry,  monument  of,  354. 
President    John,    48  ;     Jefferson's 

character  of,  392. 
Mrs.  John,  her  social  tastes,  304. 
John  Quincy,  Journal  of,  14  ;  on  his 
closing  years,  48  ;  opposes  annex 
ation  of  Texas,  51 ;  knew  the  value 
of  wit,  83  ;    made  few  personal 
friends,  146 ;  Seward'  s  Life  of,  353 ; 
early  letter  from,  355  ;  diary  of,  3  56. 
Mrs.  John  Quincy,  311. 
J.  Q.,  Jr.,  an   "Old-line   Whigi: 

Democrat,  54. 
Agassiz,  Professor,  299. 
Aged  Publicists,  95. 

Allibone,  S.  Austin,  his  Dictionary  of  Au 
thors,  430. 

Amateur  Editors  :  James  Buchanan,  Thos. 
H.  Benton,  J.  S.  Black,  and  Caleb  Gush 
ing,  21. 
Ammen,  Commodore,  puts  down  a  mutiny 

at  sea,  297. 

Anti-Romanist  Oratory,  131. 
"Arkansas  Traveler,"  a  piece  of  domestic 

poetry,  85. 

Arlington  Heights,  latest  repose  in,  91. 
Art  in  America,  219. 

Astor  House,  New  York,  symposia  at,  70. 
Autography^  of  Publicists,  421. 
Automaton  Chess  Player  and  Trumpeter, 
417. 

BAKER,  E.  D.  B.,  scene  in  the  Senate  with 
Breckinridge,  43  ;  his  political  predictions, 
46 ;  his  adopted  citizenship  and  true  pa 
triotism,  49 ;  won  and  retained  friends,  146. 
p«em  by,  285. 


Baltimore,  eventful  occurrences  in,  160 ;  fir 
ing  on  the  Massachusetts  troops,  225. 

Baltimore  A  merican,  loyalty  of,  1 59. 

Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  elected  Speaker,  379. 

Barnum's  Hotel,  Baltimore,  exciting  scene 
at,  158. 

Bamum,  Zenos,  his  kind  interest  in  Mr. 
Sumner,  159  ;  his  hotel  closed  and  re 
opened  by  authority,  161. 

Barton,  G.  W.,  of  Lancaster,  29  ;  character 
of  his  eloquence,  30. 

Bayley,  Thomas  H.,  of  Virginia,  57. 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.*,  57. 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  relations  with  Hen 
ry  Wikoff,  366  ;  with  President  Buchan 
an,  367. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  as  an  amateur  news 
paper  writer,  21 ;  anecdote  of,  22. 

Biddle,  Charles  J.,  of  Philadelphia,  press 
banquet  to,  71. 

Bingham,  Mrs.,  her  quarrel  with  Manager 
Wigfall,  269. 

Binney,  Horace,  his  eulogy  on  John  Ser 
geant,  198  ;  his  public  life,  201. 

Black,  Jeremiah  S.,  as  a  newspaper  writer, 
21. 

Blair  &  Rives,  of  the  Washington  press, 
106. 

Blitz,  Signer  Antonio,  his  forty  years  in  the 
New  World,  413  ;  autobiography  of  a 
conjurer,  414 ;  anecdotes  from,  416. 

Boker,  George  H.,  his  introduction  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  264 ;  his  patriotic  poetry,  266. 

Booth,  John  Wilkes,  assassinates  President 
Lincoln,  40. 

Boston,  local  government  of,  348. 

Brady,  James  T.,  71. 

Breckinridge,  John  C.,  his  career  and  char 
acter,  41 ;  scene  with  Senator  E.  D.  Baker, 
42  ;  with  a  South  Carolina  Hotspur,  284. 


INDEX. 


Bristol,  Lord,  retort  to  Frederick  the  Great,    ; 
265. 

Broderick,  David  C.,  of  California,  23  ;  elect 
ed  Senator,  24  ;  character  of,  25  ;  personal 
and  prophetic  speech  by,  26  ;  return  to 
California,  27  ;  slain  in  a  put-up  duel,  28  ; 
his  tragic  fate,  316. 

Brown,  David  Paul,  Philadelphia  lawyer, 
sketch  and  anecdotes  of,  211. 

Buchanan  James,  his  diary,  14 ;  inspired  an 
attack  on  T.  H.  Benton,  22  ;  his  set  of  an 
ecdotes,  62 ;  his  twenty  years'  Presiden 
tial  candidacy,  67  ;  a  good  secret-keeper, 
74  ;  made  few  friends,  146  ;  Mr.  Clay's 
dislike  of,  181 ;  Cabinet  on  the  eve  of  Re 
bellion,  223;  Minister  to  England,  317; 
his  Secretary  of  Legation,  318  ;  an  English 
Boniface,  319  ;  first  Presidential  aspira 
tion,  324 ;  successful,  325. 

CALHOUN,  J.  C.,  change  of  his  politics,  53  ; 

simplicity  of  his  manners,  83. 
California,  early  days  of,  314. 
Cameron,  Simon,  a  ride  with,  66  ;  another 
bottle  of  Johannisberger,  67;  proposes  to 
arm  the  negroes,  76. 
Canning,  Stratford,  in  Washington,  311. 
Carey,  Henry  C.,  ubiquity  of  his  writings,  98. 

Matthew,  of  Philadelphia,  390. 
Carlyle,Thomas,  his  French  history  inspired 

Dickens,  294. 

Carroll,  Charles,  grandson  of  the  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  189;  a 
day  with,  190 ;  his  career,  191 ;  practical 
anti-slavery  convictions,  192. 
Cartter,  Chief  Justice,  his  share  in  the  nom 
ination  of  General  Grant,  286. 
Cass,  General,  mistaken  for  John  Guy,  165. 
Cavendish,  Lord  Frederick,  a  reminiscence 

by,  36. 

Cemeteries,  183. 

Centenary  of  1776,  preparing  for  it,  216. 
Changes  of  political  opinions,  examples  of, 
in  Webster,  Buchanan,  Clay,  Calhoun,  53  ; 
in  whole  States,  54. 

Charleston  visited  by  President  Washing 
ton,  258. 

Chess  Player,  the  Automaton,  417. 
Players,  enthusiasm  of,  417. 
Childs,  George  W.,  his  Public  Ledger,  429, 
430 ;  his  generosity,  431. 


Choate,  Rufus,  the  great  Massachusetts  law 
yer,  80;  anecdote  of,  81. 
Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  regularly  at 
tended  by  President  Washington,  261. 
Christmas  in  Washington,  231. 
Chronicle,  Daily  and  Weekly,  Washington 

journals,  383,  427. 

Clay,  Henry,  in  Philadelphia,  9 ;  change  of 
politics,  53  ;  delighted  in  anecdotes,  83 ; 
made  and  retained  friends,  146  ;  did  not 
forgive  Buchanan's  sharp  practice,  181  ; 
bitter  retort  in  the  Senate,  182  ;  death, 
183  ;  a  disappointed  man,  325  ;  with  Sig- 
nor  Blitz,  418. 

Clerk  of  the  House,  election  of,  32. 
Clymer,  Hiester,  an  "Old-line  Whig,"  55. 
Cobb,  Howell,  of  Georgia,  40. 
Colored  Race,  able  men  of  the,  337. 
Columbia,  District  of,  348. 
Congressional  habits,  change  in,  321 ;  social 

admixture,  322. 

Conklin,  Seth,  dies  in  a  just  cause,  211. 
Connelly,  Harry,  famous  back-room  of,  419; 

his  character  and  friends,  420. 
Conrad,  Robert  T.,  of  Philadelphia,  death 

of,  29 ;  his  character  and  gifts,  31. 
Constellation,  dinner  onboard  of  the,  310. 
Contrasts   of  character,  Abraham   Lincoln 

and  Andrew  Johnson,  165. 
Cooke,  Henry  D.,  first  governor  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  348;  his  career,  349. 
Cooper-shop  Refreshment  Saloon,  in  Phila 
delphia,  during  the  Rebellion,  224. 
Corcoran,  W.  W.,  founds  the  Oak  Hill  Cem 
etery  at  Georgetown,  184 ;  his  bank,  234. 
Cox,  S.  S.,  his  "  Buckeye  Abroad,"  283. 
Coyle,  John  F.,  33  ;  celebrates  the  wake  of 

Albert  Pike,  274. 
Crossley,  Sir  Francis,  a  public  benefactor, 

408. 

Cushing,  Caleb,  an  amateur  editor,  28  ; 
sketch  of,  227  ;  his  political  antecedents, 
228;  his  varied  endowments  and  acquire 
ments,  229. 

Daily  Critic,  of  Washington,  385. 

Dallas,  Geo.  M.,  Vice-President  under  J.  K. 
Polk,  63  ;  Embassador  to  England,  64. 

Dana,  Richard  H.,  300. 

|    Davis,  Henry  Winter,  our  "  Rupert  of  De 
bate,"  302. 


INDEX. 


439 


Davis,  Jefferson,  as  a  speaker,  58. 

Walter,  of  Maryland,  57. 
Dawson,  John   L.,  his  "Buried  Joe   San 
ders"  story,  274. 

Decoration  Day  in  Washington,  91. 
Democracy,  course  and  death  of,  344. 
Democrats  in  Convention  in  1844,  117. 
Diaries  :   of  John  Quincy  Adams,  14  ;   of 

James  Buchanan,  14. 

Dickens,  Charles,  294  ;  his  extensive  human 
ity,  400 ;  his  Christmas  feelings,  401. 
Dimitry,  Alexander,  description  of,  279. 
D'Orsay,  Count,  and  Louis  Napoleon,  368  ; 

his  character,  370. 
Dougherty,  Daniel,  his  lecture  on  Oratory, 

56. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  compared  with  Wash 
ington,  18;  anecdote  of,  19;  mon 
ument  to,  20;  great  extent  and 
variety  of  general  information, 
21 ;  supports  annexation  of  Tex 
as,  51  ;  retained  friends,  146  ;  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War, 
225  ;  his  western  tour,  225  ;  dies 
at  Chicago,  226;  overborne  by 
the  South,  325 ;  a  defeated  Pres 
idential  candidate,  362  ;  his  sons, 
226. 

Mrs.  Stephen  A.,  307. 

Douglass,  Frederick,  on  the  Decoration  Day, 
92  ;  a  great  orator,  337. 

ELDER,  Dr.,  anecdote  told  by,  16. 

Ellet,  Mrs.  Mary,  a  nonogenarian,  221. 

European  cities,  how  governed,  348. 

Evening  Star,  of  Washington,  385. 

Ewing,  George  W.,  Indian  Agent,  a  let 
ter  from,  revealing  the  Slocum  romance, 
208. 

Executive  Session  of  the  United  States  Sen 
ate,  72. 

FAIRMOUNT  Park,  Philadelphia,  proposed 
statues  of  Pennsylvania  worthies  in,  218  ; 
Art  Gallery  in,  406. 

Faulkner,  Charles  James,  of  Virginia,  57. 

Felton,  Samuel  M.,  his  narrative  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  escape  from  assassination,  248. 

Fiction,  truth  in,  293. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  and  Signer  Blitz,  417. 

Fitzgerald,  Thomas,  his  pictures,  98. 


Forrest,  Edwin,  Clay's  apology  to,  10  ;   at 

the  Astor  House,  70 ;  Sympathy  with  the 

Union,  76 ;  at  the  Mills  House,  77  ;  letter 

from,  425. 
Forrest  Letter,  use  made  of,  13  ;  statement 

relating  to,  35. 
Forney,  John   W.,   elected   Clerk    of   the 

House,  32  ;  "Mazeppa"  speech  by,  33; 

letter  from,  at  opening  of  the  Thirty-fourth 

Congress,  109  ;  edits  Washington  Union, 

no;  retires  from,  194;  solid  compliment 

to,  as  Clerk  of  the  House,  381. 
Franklin,  Dr.,  his  indignant  reply  to  Lord 

Howe,  393. 

Frederick  the  Great  and  Lord  Bristol,  265. 
Freedman's  Savings  Bank,  in  Washington, 

234- 
Fremont,  John  C.,  explores  California,  314  ; 

opposed  by  T.  B.  Benton,  22. 
Freneau,  Philip,  extract  from  his  satirical 

verses,  239. 

GALES  &  SEATON,  of  the  National  Intelli 
gencer,  109. 
Geary,  John  W.,  anti-slavery  Governor  of 

Kansas,  32. 
Gibson,  Chief  Justice,  214  ;  and  Signer  Blitz, 

417  ;  on  D.  P.  Brown,  214. 
Girard,  Francis  J.,  a   versatile  journalist, 

108. 

College,  407. 

Globe,  Tlie  Congressional,  105. 
Grant,  General  U.  S.,  letter  to,  from  Secreta 
ry  Stanton,  on  the  capture  of  Rich 
mond,  1 86 ;  story  of  his  first  nomi 
nation  for  President,  287  ;  his  dis 
inclination,  288 ;  his  character  re 
sembles  Washington's,  340. 
Mrs.  U.  S.,  in  the  White  House,  312. 
Greeley,  Horace,  69 ;   his  Log  Cabin  and 
Tribune,  328  ;   his  solid  friendship,  374 ; 
Sumrier's  tribute  to,  397  ;   last  interview 
with,  398. 
Guy,  John,  of  Baltimore,  and  General  Lewis 

Cass,  anecdote  of,  165. 
Gwin,  Senator  W.  M.,  of  California,  314. 

HALL,  Dr.  J.  C.,  of  Washington,  his  anec 
dote  of  President  Jackson,  189. 
Handwriting  of  public  men,  421. 
Harper's  Weekly,  pictorial  satire  in,  329. 


440 


INDEX. 


Harrison,  Joseph,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia,  404 ; 
railwayism  in  Russia,  405  ;  his  patronage 
of  art,  406. 

Hart,  Emmanuel  B.,  of  New  York,  70. 

Haskin,  John  B.,  34. 

Hickman,  John,  Stevens's  reply  to,  37. 

Hiester,  Isaac  E.,  an  "  Old-line  Whig,"  55. 

History,  falsity  in,  293. 

Hoffman,  David,  of  Baltimore,  220 ;  receives 
a  cockade  from  President  Washington, 
221. 

Holland,  Lady,  313. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  300. 

Holt,  Judge  Joseph,  vindicates  the  charac 
ter  of  Richard  M.  Johnson,  323. 

Hooper,  Samuel,  of  Boston,  300. 

Hotels,  as  they  were  and  are,  164. 

Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  of  Virginia,  57. 

Huntington,  William  S.,  early  death  of,  302. 

"  IDIOT  BOY,"  recited  by  E.  Forrest,  77. 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  20. 

"JACK  CADE,"  Conrad's  drama  of,  31. 
Jackson,  Andrew,  recommended  James  Bu 
chanan  for  Secretary  of  State  to 
President  Polk,  63 ;  anecdote  of, 
65;  his  patriotism,  280;  scene  with 
an  old  postmaster,  281 ;  with  Mr. 
Wright,  283  ;  freely  characterized 
by  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  329. 
Mrs.  Andrew,  in  the  White  House, 

312. 
James   S.,  of  Kentucky,  34;   his 

death  on  the  battle-field,  95. 
Jacksonian  Democrats,  343. 
Jarvis,  Russell,  an  editorial  writer,  428. 
Jay,  John,  his  notice  of  theatricals  in  Phila 
delphia,  269. 

"  Jeannette  and  Jeannot,"  ballad  of,  84. 
Jefferson,  Mrs.  Martha,  her  husband's  epi 
taph  upon,  305. 

Thomas,  described  by  an  English 
traveler,  305 ;  opens  the  Con 
gressional  Session,  306 ;  first 
sends  a  written  Message,  306 ; 
one  of  his  receptions,  307 ;  vis 
its  the  North,  260  ;  his  charac 
ter  of  Washington,  390  ;  sketch 
of  European  sovereigns,  391 ; 
glad  to  leave  office,  392  ;  view 
of  character,  393. 


Johnson,  Andrew,  advocated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  167 ; 
his  false  step  at  starting,  177  ;  de 
moralizes  the  Republican  party, 
286. 

Mrs.  A., in  the  White  House,  312. 
Simeon  M.,  302. 

Jones,  J.  Glancy,  defeat  of,  120. 

Journalism  in  Washington,  104. 

Journalizing,  advantages  of,  15. 

KANSAS,  maltreatment  of,  15. 
Know-Nothingism,  135. 
Kremer,  George,  his  rebuff  of  John  Ran 
dolph's  pedantry,  202. 

Lancaster  Intelligencer  and  Journal,  21. 
Lane,  Miss  Harriet, in  the  White  House,  312. 
Langston,  Prof.  J.  M.,  his  colored  law-class 

at  Howard  University,  Washington,  180. 
Latham,  Milton  S.,  of  California,  315. 
Lawyers,  preponderance  of,  as  legislators, 

178  ;  education  for  public  life,  179. 
Leaders,  future  political,  351. 
Lectures,  the  era  of,  272. 
Leland,  Charles  Godfrey,  his  Pennsylvania 

Dutch  verses,  203. 

Leslie,  Frank,  pictorial  satire  in  his  Illus 
trated  Newspaper,  329. 
Levin,  Lewis  C,  founds  the  Native  Ameri 
can  Party,  131 ;  his  death,  144. 
Lewis,  Chief  Justice,  speech  by,  432. 
Dixon  H.,  of  Alabama,  112. 
William  D.,  an  octogenarian,  97. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  an  original  humorist,  38 ; 
his  two  inaugurations,  39;  assas 
sinated,  40;  marked  individual 
ity  of  his  character  and  tempera 
ment,  86  ;  his  fitness  for  supreme 
office,  166;  his  liking  for  Shakes 
peare,  r&7 ;   some   of  his   short 
sentences,  168  ;  his  uniform  good 
temper,  176  ;  raises  the  national 
flag   in   front   of  Independence 
Hall,  244  ;   escape  from  threat 
ened  assassination,  248 ;  passes 
through   Baltimore,  and  arrives 
in  Washington,  255  ;  reply  to  the 
Kentucky  Commissioners,  265  ; 
fond  of  the  theatre,  272  ;  his  hu 
manity,  295. 
Mrs.,  in  the  White  House,  312. 


INDEX. 


441 


Lloyd,  Clinton,  his  recitation  of  Pennsylva 
nia  Dutch  verses,  203  ;  of  Lowell's  Big- 
elow  Papers,  204. 

Longevity  in  Philadelphia,  96. 

Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  299. 

Lovejoy,  Owen,  of  Illinois,  61 ;  his  death,  62. 

MCCLELLAN,  Dr.  George,  of  Philadelphia, 
a  strong  supporter  of  Henry  Clay,  187. 

McClellan,  General  George  B.,  a  poet's  trib 
ute  to,  267. 

McClintock,  Dr.  Jonas  R.,  of  Pittsburgh,  a 
local  historian,  88. 

McClure,  A.  K.,  of  Pennsylvania,  his  career 
and  ability,  326. 

McCook,  General  Robert,  fine  poem  on  the 
murder  of,  331. 

McDougall,  Senator  James  A.,  of  Califor 
nia,  his  career  and  character,  147 ;  his  pe 
culiar  eloquence,  148. 

McDowell,  James,  of  Virginia,  on  admis 
sion  of  California  as  a  free  State,  58 ;  his 
death,  62. 

McMichael,  Morton,  71. 

Mackenzie,  R.  Shelton,  his  description  of 
Albert  Pike,  278  ;  of  Alexander  Dimitry, 
279. 

Madison  and  Jefferson  visit  the  North,  260. 

Madison,  Mrs.,  in  the  White  House,  307. 

Maelzel,  inventor  of  the  Automaton  Chess 
Player,  4 1 7. 

Marshall,  E.  C,  of  California,  315. 

Thomas  F.,  his  satirical  sketch  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  329. 

Mason,  James  M.,  57. 

Massachusetts,  historians  of,  346  ;  what  con 
stitutes  its  greatness,  301, 

"Mazeppa"  speech  at  Coyle's,  33  ;  English 
reminiscence  of,  36. 

Meredith,  W.  M.,  of  Philadelphia,  385  ;  con 
flict  with  Thaddeus  Stevens,  386. 

Mills  House,  the,  on  Capitol  Hill,  75  ;  for 
merly  Chief  Justice  Marshall's  residence, 
80. 

Mirabeau,  death  of,  399. 

Missouri  Compromise,  repeal  of,  109. 

Monroe,  Mrs.  James,  in  the  White  House, 
3"- 

Moore,  Frank,  his  Rebellion  Record,  329. 

Moran,  Benjamin,  Secretary  of  United  States 
Legation  in  London,  36. 


Morris,  Robert,  his  house  in  Philadelphia, 

240. 
Muhlenburg,  Henry  E.,  visit  to,  66  ;  death 

of,  68. 

Municipal  Government,  347. 
Murdock,  James  A.,  recites  T.  Buchanan 

Read's  poems,  331. 
Mutiny  suppressed  by  firmness,  297. 

NATIVE  AMERICANS,  L.  C.  Levin,  their 
chief,  131. 

Nelson,  General  William,  his  difficulty  with 
James  S.  Jackson,  of  Kentucky,  95. 

New  England,  intelligence  of,  301 ;  high  cult 
ure  of,  345. 

New-year"  s  Calls,  237 ;  President  Washing 
ton  in  New  York,  238 ;  in  Philadelphia,  242. 

Noah,  M.  M.,  of  New  York,  362. 

Nye,  James  W.,  of  Nevada,  396. 

OAK    HILL    CEMETERY,  at   Georgetown, 

D.C.,i84. 
"Occasional,"  of  the  Philadelphia  Press, 

names  General  Grant  for  President,  287. 
Official  Secrets,  difficulty  of  keeping,  73. 
Officials,  information  possessed  by  aged,  296. 
Old-line  Whigs,  54. 
Orne,  James  H.,  303. 

PARKER,  THEODORE,  on  George  Washing 
ton,  1 8. 

Patriot,  The,  Washington  daily,  383. 

Patterson,  General  Robert,  96. 

Pennington,  William,  elected  Speaker,  32. 

Pennsylvania,  Senator  Sumner's  character 
of,  345  ;  a  local  historian  of,  346. 

Pennsylvanian,  The,  Daniel  Webster's 
speech  reported  in,  10. 

Philadelphia,  before  and  after  Secession, 
224 ;  the  seat  of  Congress  in,  249 ;  the  last- 
century  belles  of,  242  ;  male  celebrities  of 
the  time,  243  ;  Lincoln  raises  the  nation 
al  flag  in  front  of  Independence  Hall,  244  ; 
Washington's  daily  life  in,  261 ;  old  thea 
tres  in,  268 ;  Republican  National  Con 
vention  in,  336 ;  Colonial  Congress  in,  339. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  personal  and  public  char 
acter  of,  12  ;  distrust  of  James  Bu 
chanan,  13. 

Mrs.  Franklin,  in  the  White  House, 
312. 


T  2 


442 


INDEX. 


Pike,  Albert,  the  Wake  of,  274 ;  his  "  Fine 
Arkansas  Gentleman,"  275  ;  his  speech, 
276  ;  his  own  death  song,  277  ;  his  person 
al  appearance,  278. 

Plantation  patois,  the,  194  ;  eminent  speak 
ers  using  it,  197. 

Polk,  James  K.,  Presidency  of,  22. 

Mrs.  J.  K.,  in  the  White  House,  312. 

Porter,  General  Andrew,  his  command  in 
Mexico,  292. 

Prentice,  George  D.,  journalist  and  poet,  76, 
327. 

Presidential  election,  comic  side  of,  327  ; 
satiric  writers  in,  327. 

Presidential  tours  originated  with  Washing 
ton,  261. 

Presidents'  wives,  304. 

Press,  the  Government,  in  Washington,  104  ; 
Thomas  Ritchie,  106. 

Press,  The  Philadelphia,  its  conflict  with 
pro-slavery  Democracy,  120 ;  names  Gen 
eral  Grant  for  President,  287  ;  with  Presi 
dent  Buchanan,  363. 

Pry  or,  Roger  A.,  a  prisoner-guest,  38 ;  as  an 
orator,  57. 

Public  Ledger,  427;  its  early  history,  428; 
present  position  of,  429. 

Public  Printing,  the,  formerly  a  job,  384. 

Purvis,  Robert,  of  Byberry,  his  interesting 
experiences,  205  ;  a  representative  man, 
337  ;  an  ornament  to  any  circle,  339. 

QUEEN,  JOHN,  his  emancipation  papers,  206. 

RANDOLPH,  JOHN,  of  Roanoke,  his  duel  with 
Henry  Clay,  181. 

Rawle,  William,  Philadelphia  lawyer,  his  re 
lations  with  D.  P.  Brown,  213. 

Rawlins,  John  A.,  President  Grant's  friend 
ship  for,  288. 

Read,  T.  Buchanan,  early  death  of,  330 ;  his 
patriotic  poem,  "We  Swear,"  331;  his 
"New  Pastoral,"  333  ;  "The  Apostro 
phe,"  335- 

Reade,  Charles,  a  realistic  romancist,  56. 

Reed,  William  B.,  editing  James  Buchan 
an's  Diary,  14 ;  a  fine  political  writer,  55  ; 
verses  by,  82. 

Reeder,  Andrew  H.,  Governor  of  Kansas, 
13  ;  removed  by  President  Pierce,  32  ;  in 
Congress,  1 10. 


Religion  in  politics,  145. 

Republican  National  Convention  in  Phila 
delphia,  336. 

Reyburn,  Dr.  W.  P.,  anecdote  related  by, 
200  ;  what  a  cavalry  charger  did,  292. 

Ritchie,  Thomas,  journalist,  sketch  of,  107. 

Rives,  John  C.,  of  the  Washington  Globe, 
anecdote  of,  395. 

Roberts,  Marshall  O.,  New  York,  69. 

Royall,  Annie,  newspaper  satirist  and  nov 
elist,  115. 

Rupp,  I.  Daniel,  a  historian  of  Pennsylvania, 
346. 

Rush,  Richard,  describes  Washington's 
opening  of  Congress,  262. 

Russell,  William  H.,  Times  correspondent 
in  Washington,  76. 

SAVAGE,  JOHN,  at  Albert  Pike's  Wake, 
277. 

Savannah  visited  by  President  Washington, 
259. 

Schlomberg,  the  Automaton  Chess  Player, 
417. 

Scott,  Colonel  T.  A.,  of  Pennsylvania  Cen 
tral  Railroad,  99 ;  Assistant  Secretary  of 
War,  loi ;  his  business  rapidity  of  action, 
103  ;  his  habits,  104. 

Seaver,  William  A.,  of  New  York,  70. 

Sergeant,  John,  of  Philadelphia,  197 ;  a  mod 
erate  fee,  199. 

Seward,  William  H.,  sustains  President  An 
drew  Johnson,  286 ;  defeated  at  Chicago 
by  A.  Lincoln,  326  ;  as  a  biographer,  353  ; 
death  of,  372. 

Shunk,  Francis  R.,  Governor  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  68. 

Sickles,  Daniel  E.,  69;  Secretary  of  Legation 
in  England,  318;  his  mission  to  Spain, 
426. 

Slavery  created  changes  of  political  opin 
ions,  54. 

Slidell,  John,  reply  to  by  Robert  J.  Walker, 
121 ;  his  secession  speech,  152;  his  life 
and  death,  156. 

Slocum,  Frances,  a  Wilkesbarre  child,  her 
life  among  the  Indians,  208 ;  marries  and 
grows  old  in  the  tribe,  209. 

Smith,  Gerritt,  of  New  York,  151. 

long-lived  family  of,  in  Philadelphia, 
96. 


INDEX. 


443 


Smith,  William  Prescott,  of  Baltimore,  538; 

character  and  accomplishments  of,  359. 
Social  Reminiscences  of  Washington,  273. 
Soule,  Pierre,  on  the  Compromise   Meas 
ures,  9  ;  character  of,  57. 
South,  brilliant  rhetoric  of  the,  57. 
Southern  Congressmen,  57;  institutions,  17  ; 
slaveholders,  grotesque  manners  and  hab 
its  of,  194. 

Speaker,  election  of,  32,  375;  speeches  at, 
376  et  seq.;  high  compliment  to  J.  W.  For 
ney,  381. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  76  ;  his  position  and  ac 
tion  as  War  Minister,  185  ;  letter 
to  Gen.  Grant  on  the  taking  of 
Richmond,  186  ;  his  friendship 
for  D.  E.  Sickles,  425  ;  on  his 
death-bed,  426. 

Fred.  P.,  Secretary  of  Kansas,  119. 
Steam-traveling,  162. 
Stebbins,  Colonel,  of  New  York,  69. 
Stetson,  Charles,  of  the  Astor  House,  68. 
Stevens,  Thaddeus,  anecdotes  of,  37;  his 
relations  with  George  Wolf,  281 ;  attacked 
the  Masonic  order  and  joined  the  Know- 
Nothings,  386. 
Still,  Peter,  story  of,  210. 

William,  his  Under -ground  Railroad 

record,  204. 
Stockton,  Commodore,  his  wager  with  James 

Buchanan,  74. 

Stormy  Session,  a,  109 ;  two  months'  delay 

over  election  of  Speaker,  1 10 ;  Nathaniel  P. 

Banks  chosen  by  a  majority  of  three,  in. 

Story,  Mr.  Justice,  and  Annie  Royall,  115. 

Sullivan,  John  T.,  of  Washington,  general 

hospitality  of,  64. 
John  T.  S.,  college-mate  of  Charles 

Sumner,  71. 

Sully,  Thomas,  the  artist,  97. 
Sumner,  Charles,  refinement  of  his  tastes, 
83  ;  in  peril  at  Baltimore,  158 ;  his  opinion 
of  Pennsylvania,  346. 

Sumter,  firing  upon,  opens  the  Civil  War,  158. 
Superior  City  stock,  speculation  in,  19. 
Swain,  William  M.,  anecdote  of,  365. 
Swift,  John,  Ex-Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  9. 

TAINE,  HENRI  A.,  on  biography,  411. 
Terry,  David  S.,  kills  Senator  Broderick  in 
a  duel,  28. 


Texas,  annexation  of,  opposed  by  J.  Q.  Ad 
ams,  48 ;  supported  by  Stephen  A.  Doug 
las,  51. 

Thompson,  Chief  Justice  James,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  83. 
John  R.,  of  Newjersey,  a  strong 

Unionist,  42. 

Toombs,  Robert,  of  Georgia,  the  stormy  pet 
rel  of  debate,  58. 
Traveling  forty  years  ago,  162. 

UNCONSCIOUS  courage,  anecdote  of,  290. 
Union,  a  former  Washington  journal,  107. 
Utility,  the  Age  of,  352. 

VAN  BUREN,  JOHN,  a  dinner-table  despot,  70. 
Martin,had  few  realfriends,  146. 
Victoria,  Queen,  Sully' s  portrait  of,  97. 

WALKER,  ROBERT  J., anti-slavery  Governor 
of  Kansas,  32  ;  at  the  Baltimore  Conven 
tion,  118  ;  his  career,  119 ;  sent  to  Europe 
by  President  Lincoln,  121 ;  writes  in  the 
London  Times,  121. 
Walsh,  Mike,  of  New  York,  113. 
Ward,  Sam,  of  Washington,  a  courteous  au 
tocrat  of  the  dinner-table,  394. 
Washington,  George,  at  the  Mills  House, 
Washington,  80;    at   table, 
221  ;      Presidential     tour 
through  the  South,  257  ;  his 
traveling  carriage,  257  ;  his 
daily   life   in   Philadelphia, 
261 ;   how  he  opened  Con 
gress,  262  ;  domestic  habits 
of,  262  ;  at  the  Philadelphia 
theatre,  270  ;  letter  to  Mat 
thew  Carey,  390;  his  char 
acter  by  Jefferson,  391. 
Mrs.,   in    Philadelphia,   261  -, 
her  person  and  dress,  263  ; 
her  disinclination  for  grand 
entertainments,  304. 
Thirty  years  ago,  231 ;  its  ad 
vance  into  a  great  city,  233  ; 
Freedmen's   Savings   Bank 
in,  234 ;   municipal  govern 
ment  of,  348  ;  a  newspaper 
sepulchre,  382. 

Washington  Sunday  Morning  Chronicle^ 
427. 


444 


INDEX. 


Washington  Union,  organ  of  President 
Pierce,  no. 

Webster,  Daniel,  Tariff  speeches  of,  10 ;  on 
the  Presidential  nomination,  1 1 ;  change 
of  politics,  54  ;  defeated  by  Winfield  Scott, 
Bo ;  appreciation  of  humor,  83 ;  death,  183  ; 
his  retort  to  Signer  Blitz,  417. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  69. 

Westward  Ho!   357. 

Wharton,  George  M.,  an  "Old-line  Whig," 
55- 

Wikoff,  Henry,  his  devotion  to  Louis  Napo 
leon,  366  ;  visits  the  prisoner  of  Ham,  369. 

Wilkes,  Captain,  of  the  San  Jacinto,  cap 
tures  Mason  and  Slidell  at  sea,  156. 


Wilkins,  Judge  William,  of  Pennsylvania, 
87 ;  character  of,  88 ;  his  mental  trial  of 
Jefferson  Davis,  89. 
Wilson,  Henry,  of  Massachusetts,  341  ;  his 

character  and  talents,  342. 
William  J.,  Cashier  of  Freedman's 
Savings    Bank    in    Washington, 
234- 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  opposes  Know-Nothing- 
ism,  135 ;  his  public  life,  144 ;  Governor 
of  Virginia,  145. 
Wits  in  Congress,  83. 

Wright,  Frances  (Madame  Frances  d'Arus- 
mont),  her  socialistic  theories,  115. 
Silas,  a  great  logician,  83. 


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